Repercussions
by wee-lepricauns-Inc
Summary: What if Spike came back after Chosen and what if a few others came with him? How will things turn out for Buffy and Spike? And things only get harder when Darla starts causing trouble. SPUFFY, Xanya, Waith
1. Morning Nightmare

Repercussions

**This is pretty much the story of what happens after Chosen. Not based on anything that happens in Angel. Strictly Buffy based story. I do not own Buffy the vampire slayer. I only own a computer. So don't sue ******** also, this is my first story, so I'm sorry if it's sloppy.**

"Dawn! What is this?" Buffy asked furiously at her little sister as she gulped down her eggs. Dawn was taken by surprise; she stared at her sister, eyes wide with shock.

"Wha's what?" Dawn asked chewing rapidly. Buffy gave her the all too familiar you're-in-trouble-look.

"You dumped last nights dinner in a pot plant, that's what" Buffy raised her eyebrows, trying to get an explanation.

"You don't know it was me!" she replied defensively crossing her arms around her black hello kitty tank top.

"Dawn! You were the only one who ate peas last night, so unless the plants are possessed…" Buffy placed her hands on her hips, sure that she was going to win this argument. Before Dawn could answer Willow skipped into the room, still dressed in her fluffy blue pajamas.

"Don't stop the bickering just 'cause I'm in the room guys" she joked while continuing to the kitchen.

"Hey Will" Buffy smiled as Willow spun around and smiled back.

"I'm making breakfast, you guys want?" she offered while running her finger through her shiny red hair.

"No I'm not really in breakfast mode" Buffy replied

"I'm still kind of…" Dawn began to speak but was interrupted

"No" Buffy said directly to Dawn "You just ate half our eggs, you can wait until lunch" she said sternly.

"Besides you threw out last nights dinner, its your fault you're so hungry" she reminded her failing at hiding her superiority.

"It wasn't me! Willow you were there! Tell her!" Dawn said frantically waving her hands about as if to prove something.

"It wasn't her Buffy, it was Faith, we both saw her" Willow said grinning slightly, she loved being able to get Faith into trouble. Buffy sighed and looked up at the ceiling. _Maybe I should charge her every time she eats over here, then I bet she wouldn't drop food everywhere…_ Buffy thought.

"Speaking of, where is she? I thought Faith was on Dawn duty this morning" Willow asked not really directing the question to anyone in particular.

"Ah, she spent the night at Princip…at Robins, so a little tardiness is expected" Buffy rolled her eyes; Faith had never been so attached to one guy before. It was nice though; it was definitely easier for Faith with someone standing by her like that.

"Do you think they'll get married soon?" Dawn asked while watching Buffy's face change from emotion to emotion. Buffy's head whipped up.

"Huh? Oh…I don't know" she replied

"Really? Because I could swear I hear bells on their way. Wedding bells that is…not bells in my head, because that would mean insanity and…hey, I'm thirsty!" Buffy laughed slightly at Willow's strange metaphor. A sudden knocking from the front door startled both Buffy and Dawn.

"I'll get it!" Dawn said happily. Dawn and Faith had gotten a lot closer. It had been a month since they all got out of Sunnydale and started living in Cleveland. It was Giles's idea to stay nearby a hellmouth again; something to do with the new slayers would all eventually be called here. It was still a bit of mystery of when they would come, and where they'd go.

Dawn jumped over to the front door and pulled the door open. Faith was waiting on the doorstep, dressed in a black t-shirt and dark denim jeans, she was the coolest person Dawn knew. Of course she'd never say that in front of Buffy.

"Faith!" Dawn hugged Faith before she could react.

"Hey kid, ready to go?" Faith laughed while pushing Dawn off, obviously uncomfortable with the sudden contact.

"Yep, wanna come in and see everyone?" she grabbed Faiths hand and pulled her inside anyway. Faith sighed in defeat. She was way too beat to fight back against the energetic Dawn. As they entered the dining room Buffy suddenly looked annoyed.

"Dawn what the hell are you doing? You're already late for school! Hurry up and go!" she demanded "Hey Faith" she added smiling quickly

"Hey B, sorry about being late. I would have been here before but," Buffy raised a hand to tell her it didn't matter.

"I just thought you'd wanna say hello!" Dawn said grabbing her school bag and frowning at her big sister.

"I just did, now go!" Buffy ordered again

"Later B, see ya Red" Faith called, getting no reply from Willow

"Geez, why are you always in such a bad mood these days?" Dawn grumbled as she and Faith disappeared out the door.

"I am so fed up with her! Every morning she's late!" Buffy complained as Willow walked into the room with her plate bacon and a glass of orange juice.

"Yeah and she keeps calling me Red! The only people who ever did that was Spike and…" Willow stopped herself halfway glancing at Buffy. Willow watched as Buffy's face fell into a painful look of despair.

"Oh Buffy, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to…" Buffy snapped her head up

"No, no its fine. Besides you're right, he did…" she replied feeling tears well up in her eyes again "I'm still kind of tired, sorry" she got up from her seat and walked to her bedroom. She shut the door without making a sound besides a gentle 'click' before falling to her feet. The tears we already there, reminding her of what she had lost. It had been a whole month, yet it still plagued her mind. She had the chance to save Spike, but he had told her to run without him. She didn't know how she couldn't feel responsible about his death. Buffy tried to clear the tears from her face, but they just kept coming. She wanted to run outside and let Willow comfort her, but she knew that would mean telling her what happened. For some reason Buffy felt like that was private. A secret made just for her. Buffy glanced at her bed and decided to sleep it off; she'd feel better when she woke up. She locked the door, got into bed and then got the last of her tears out.

Willow finished her breakfast quickly, feeling immensely guilty for making Buffy so upset. She decided she should go say sorry…again. She walked down the hall of their one story apartment, and placed a hand on the doorknob. It was locked. _I'll leave her alone until I get back. _Willow walked into her room, across from Buffy's and got changed. Now she wore a light blue t-shirt with a green skirt and brown high-heeled boots. Once satisfied with how she looked she walked out the front door, locking it behind her, just in case. This neighborhood was loud but everyone was nice to each other, more or less, so they got by just fine. She walked a whole block until she finally reached the string of nicer looking houses, she walked up to Xander's and knocked loudly on the door, sure he was still sleeping.

"Xander?" she called even though he probably wouldn't hear her.

"I'm coming, I'm coming" she heard his groggy voice on the other side of the door. She had woken him up. The front door flew open and there was Xander, messy hair and looking insanely confused.

"Will, its still…"

"Ten-thirty?" she smiled as Xander gestured for her to come in. He walked into the kitchen, still dressed in his black and blue pajamas, Anya's favourite ones. Xander missed Anya more that anyone could see. Every dream he had was about her.

"You want breakfast or something?" Xander offered yawning loudly.

"Again, I stress to you the ten-thirty factor" Willow grinned while Xander smiled his silly goofy grin.

"Since when was time a factor when it comes to food?" he replied in mock shock.

"No, thanks, I already ate" she explained. A comfortable silence followed after that, Willow played with her thumbs, as Xander put last nights sausages into the microwave. The two began some easy conversation while Xander ate breakfast, then Willows mobile rang. Willow picked it up and checked the number; it was Giles.

"Hi Giles!" she greeted him cheerfully.

"Willow, I've received a phone call… you must get here at once, bring Buffy with you" he got straight to the point.

"Why is it bad?" Willows mind suddenly switched into panic, thinking through a number of possible bad things

"No, but it is a matter of urgency, go give Buffy your telephone please" Giles was struggling with his home phone as he took of his glasses and began to clean them. Willow raised any eyebrow.

"Giles, I'm not at home right now, I'll tell her you called when I get home" she assured him. Xander looked at her questioningly as he continued stuffing as much food as possible into his mouth.

"What? Well there's no time to dally about! Go alert Buffy immediately!" he ordered in his most demanding tone.

"Okay, okay I'll go tell her…to…?" Willow hinted to him that she was confused

"To call me Willow, do pay more attention in the future" he scolded and Willow rolled her eyes. They said their goodbyes and Willow explained to Xander why she had to rush off so quickly.

"Oh you're going' to see the buffster? I'll go too," he proclaimed as Willow eyed his clothing. Xander stared at Willow

"What?" he questioned a bit self-conscious,

"Pajamas" she replied. Xander looked down at himself then grinned as he laughed with embarrassment.

"Maybe I should go change first huh?" he laughed as he began walking to his room.

"Might help a bit" Willow laughed as Xander looked back at her

"Shut up" he said at the laughing Willow as he shut his bedroom door.

Faith had nothing to do now that school was back in session. Robin had already landed himself the job as principal at Dawns new high school so that left Faith with 7 hours to kill. She decided today would be a good time to spend time with Buffy, maybe ask her what was wrong this morning. She walked up the mini walkway to their apartments front door and knocked a few times. No answer, she tried again. Quickly impatient she tried to doorknob, getting annoyed that even that didn't work she raised he leg to kick it down.

"Whoa, Faith did you turn evil again?" Xander called from behind her where he and Willow watched in fascination. Faith lowered her leg.

"The door wouldn't open" she explained, not understanding the looks she was getting.

"So you thought…a little house destruction would make it all better?" Xander asked her sarcastically. Faith looked from the door back to Xander.

"I was gonna fix it afterwards" she lied "Sides there no other way in, unless we smash a window" she said, eyeing the front window.

"Or we could be, you know, normal and use a house key" Willow added

"Well where the hell are we gonna find one of those?" Faith questioned putting a hand in jean pocket. Willow reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out a golden house key and grinned smugly at Faith.

"Good plan" Faith replied as Xander laughed, she shot a glare at him. Willow twisted the key in the lock and the door clicked open.

"Buffy?" she called, hoping that she had woken up on own. They got no reply. Willow traded glances with Faith and Xander.

"Buff," she began to call again but was quickly interrupted by ear splitting screams. It was Buffy. They all ran inside towards the sound of the screaming. It was coming from her room, and her door was locked from the inside.

"What should we do?" Willow questioned worriedly.

"Stand back" Faith replied

"What?" Xander pulled Willow back by her arm while Faith leapt forward and kicked the door open, almost ripping it off the hinges.

Buffy woke with a start, the screaming stopping as she did so. They three of them stared at her in confusion.  
"Buffy are you okay?" Xander asked cautiously

"I'm…I don't think so…" she replied, her voice still shaking from all the screaming.

"What happened? Bad dream or something?" Faith questioned placing a hand over her fist, a habit or hers.

"I don't know, they felt real" she said looking down at her blanket. Willow sat down next to her and placed a hand on her best friends shaking shoulder.

"What'd you see?" she asked in a soothing voice. Trying seeing Buffy's eyes properly but failing.

"I… there was fire and…blood" she said slowly, remembering each scene of her 'nightmare' carefully

"Well that doesn't seem so out of the ordinary for you" he joked, Willow looked at him and he fell silent.

"Buffy what else did you see?" she asked as Buffy met her eyes. She was frightened, more than she'd been in a long time.

"I saw knives…fire and knives and…" her voice trailed off to the most important part of her dream.

"And what, Buffy?" Willow encouraged

_and Spike… _she thought holding in her pain at even thinking about him being surrounded by all that fire and torture. She held her chest, and let the pain take over.

**Okay, so I hoped you liked it so far, I will write more very soon! Reviews would be awesome, and next chapter will have more on what Giles's emergency is all about and the truth behind Buffy's dream. Thanks for reading my first chapter!**


	2. Getting it out there

**Okay, so to anyone who's actually reading the second chapter thank you very much! It means a lot. I've made this one a bit longer, to explain a bit more of what's been happening. Once again, I don't own Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with that out of the way, enjoy, chapter 2! **

Buffy, Faith, Willow and Xander walked up the front yard to see Giles. His house was much more expensive than the others, but he had to fit all his books and artifacts, there was hardly enough room for his bed.

"Buffy, if you want we can talk about your dream later" Willow offered, not really knowing what to say, the car trip had been awkward enough and she couldn't bear the silence much longer.

"No, thanks, I don't really remember any of it anyway…" Buffy replied, even though she knew it was lie. She remembered it all too well, not only that she could still hear Spikes tortured screams. Faith looked at Buffy, not really understanding the pain she felt, she just patted her fellow slayer on the back.

"Why don't we find a party tonight, you and me, like old times" she smiled warmly, Buffy looked at Faith with an unreadable expression.

"Faith in the 'old times' you went evil and started killing people, I don't think I want to 'party' with a person like that!" Buffy snapped, releasing some of the pain her nightmare had given her. Faith was shocked, then angry. That was her past and she hated it more than anyone else. Hated her old self more than anyone else did.

"Whatever, that's fine" Faith answered her coldly as she turned and began to walk back home, not caring about the distance. Xander and Willow watched in worry as Faith stormed off. Buffy walked past them, acting like it didn't bother her. They followed her, cautious of what they did, in case she snapped again. Buffy knocked on the door, loud enough that next door would've heard.

"Giles!" she called out in annoyance, footsteps could be heard shuffling down the hall. Buffy tapped her foot impatiently as Giles reached the door. He opened the door and seemed surprised

"Buffy?" he questioned as if he expected to see someone else. Willow looked at him in confusion, hadn't she told him she'd tell Buffy that there was urgent news?

"Reporting for duty," she remarked, as she pushed her way inside, no bothering to ask to come in. Willow looked at him apologetically for Buffy's sake. Xander shut the door behind them, unsure of what was really going on.

"So Giles what happened? Did something bad happen, or did you lose a book?" Xander joked trying to add some humor into the heavy atmosphere. Giles put his hands in his dark grey trousers.

"No, nothing bad, and I don't lose books Xander, you three have a small errand to run" Giles said sternly, as Willow raised an eyebrow

"I thought you said it was an emergency?" she said questioningly as Buffy watched them, still frowning.

"It is, the coven saw a slayer, Grace is what they called her and she'll be in town today, the details are a little fuzzy on where exactly she'll be though" he admitted, wishing he had more information to share. Xander clapped his hands to gain some attention

"Well that's good news! A new super friend, I think we should go find her, who's with me?" Xander smiled widely and raised his hand in encouragement

"That's cool, I'll do it" Buffy volunteered, ignoring Xander's plan of finding her together . Everyone turned to Buffy in surprise, she didn't usually say yes right away like that.

"Well cool we'll all go together, best friends, like old times" Xander beamed, clearly thrilled about spending time with people. Willow grinned, the idea sounded nice to her too, she loved spending time just the three of them.

"Yeah, waddya say Buffy?" Willow turned and grinned a very geeky-willow type grin. Buffy stood up abruptly

"God, what is with everybody wanting to be like old times?" she didn't bother to hide her discontent "Cant you all just go home and let me do things myself?" she asked sounding both desperate and furious at the same time. Xander was the only one in the room with enough courage to say anything back

"Buffy, I don't care if your upset about Spike or whatever, we're your friends and we're trying to help and you keep throwing it back in our faces" he said strongly standing up while he talked.

"I KNOW! I know that your all just trying to help, but this is something I have to do on my own, and you helping me is starting to get in the way or me getting better" she practically growled at Xander, they stared at each other in fury for a moment. Giles and Willow stood up next to Xander, obviously taking his side. Buffy watched them with distrust as she made her resolve.

"Fine, just stay out of my way" she warned them as she flipped her curly blonde hair over her shoulder and stormed outside.

"Well that's not good" Willow said, breaking the tension in the room as Xander nodded blankly.

"I know, she could have broken that door and cost Giles a fortune, not to mention the privacy issues" Xander said gesturing to the door, Willow grimaced at his interpretation of her words.

"I meant Buffy going out all alone" she reminded him, his mouth twisted into an 'o' as Willow half smiled at him. Xander walked into the kitchen a few rooms down, already finding himself hungry.

"We'll just have to hope that nothing happens to her" Giles responded, hoping to calm them down.

"Nothing will happen! Don't say that, I'm sure she'll be just fine!"

Buffy walked quickly throughout the streets of Cleveland, bumping arms with several residents on her way. Nothing was making sense today, first she had to deal with Dawn being late the school, then the dreams about Spike, and the fight with Faith and now she just yelled at her closest friends. She breathed in deep, feeling like a fool but still wishing that they could forgive her for snapping at them. She stopped thinking about it, it was too distracting, and right now she had more important things to do.

"Grace?" she called out, trying to see who responded to the name. after walking three blocks and calling out for a girl she'd never met, she gave up. She decided she should just go home and make amends. Suddenly she had a thought, she should tell them. Tell them how Spike really died, an Uber-Vamp didn't kill him like she had told them so many times before. He died a hero, and it was time she told them, she'd kept too many secrets from them in the past. She turned around and bumped shoulders with a small girl.

"Ah, sorry" she said turning back to see if the girl noticed, all of a sudden she was overcome with a feeling of familiarity

"S'okay, I wasn't looking where I was going" the voice was unfamiliar, and so was the face. She had short black hair, it swept just above her shoulders and really brought out how pale she was. Her face was very exquisite, almost like a cats. She had a thin nose, and wide dark brown eyes with full lips. She seemed kind of lost, and that's when Buffy realized.

"Grace?" the girl raised an eyebrow and pushed a lock of hair behind her ear, showing off her piercing.

"I'm Buffy, I know this sounds weird, but you're here for a reason" she began, she'd planned out what she'd say when she met the new slayers

"Yeah, yeah I know, because I'm the slayer" she replied like she stating something as obvious as the colour of the sky. Now it was Buffy's turn to be confused

"How did you?" she asked looking around expecting something to jump out at her, despite the fact it was still only early afternoon.

"I just know, that's why I came here, I just sort of knew that I had to" she replied, shrugging like it was no big deal. Buffy smiled in amazement, at least she didn't have to do a long explanation about what a slayer is.

"So you gonna tell me what I'm here for or what?" Grace asked putting her hands in the pockets of her black jeans.

"Oh uh yeah, well its kind of a long story" Buffy admitted

"Yeah well, I don't even know what I'm doing here, so I got plenty on time" Grace replied, taking her hand out of her pocket to cross her arms. Buffy suddenly noticed the floral print top she had on was a lot like the one Jenny was wearing the last time she saw her. That thought brought back painful memories so she started talking again.

"How about we go sit down someplace, and I'll start from the beginning?" Buffy offered. Grace nodded

"If Simon says…" she agreed, as the too slayers decided on where they wanted to sit down and swap stories.

"I'm still fairly new here, but I do know a place, are you over 18?" Buffy asked, not being able to guess her age herself.

"Nope, we could fake it if you want?" she smirked; obviously she had some experience in faking her age.

"Ah, maybe next time, lets just find a different place" Buffy said raising her eyebrows at Grace's too-laid-back attitude

Dawn walked up the front walkway back home, most her energy having been drained after seven hours of school. The only relief was she made two new friends, Phoebe and Nick. Both of them completely different but were nice people, she couldn't wait to see them again tomorrow.

"Key, key…key?" she spoke aloud while fiddling through her pockets. She panicked; unable to find her house key she started searching her bag. No luck. She started knocking on the door; she looked through the glass window, trying to see if anyone was inside. She saw a shadow move but something told her that it wasn't Buffy or Willow. Something or someone had gotten inside, and she was the only one here. Dawn crept over the front gate and walked over to her bedroom window; lucky for her she left it open this morning. She crept inside, landing with a loud thump. She held her breathe, hoping that whatever was inside didn't hear it. She could still hear footsteps and they kept coming closer every step. Dawn opened up her toy chest; pulling out the sword Buffy had given her, just in case of an emergency. _I'd say this counts as an emergency_ she thought to herself as the footsteps stopped right before her door. Dawn walked forward on her toes, making as little sound as possible. She ripped the door open and jumped out with the sword, completely ready to use it.

"Dawn! Its me!" the familiar voice screamed, obviously startled by the weapon. Dawn looked up properly then her eyes widened in surprise.

"Kennedy?" Dawn asked, not quite believing what she saw. Kennedy grinned putting her hands up in front her defensively

"Lets put the weaponry down okay?" she suggested smiling at Dawn. Dawn put the sword down on the floor and then gave Kennedy a hug.

"When did you get back? I thought you we're going to see the coven" Dawn said, leading Kennedy into the kitchen so the two of them could talk.

"Just now, and I did meet them, and they gave me a message to give to Willow" she explained

"Well, what's the message? Can I know? Can I?" Dawn always got excited when there was even a small chance that she could be let in on secrets

"They said, 'please contact us as soon as possible'" Kennedy said bluntly, as Dawns excitement level went back down.

"Oh, what kind of a lame message is that?" she grumbled, wondering if the coven were just a bunch of really boring magic-types.

"So…where's Willow?" she asked, obviously she had looked all through their one story apartment and couldn't find her.

"Oh um, she's probably at Xanders, or maybe they all went to see Giles, or…" Dawn began listing all the things they could possibly be doing

"You could have just said 'I'm not sure'" Kennedy replied chuckling, Dawn smirked.

"What about Buffy? Do you at least know what she's up to?" she asked

"Picking up the new slayer apparently" Buffy said from the doorway, Dawn and Kennedy stared at her, not understanding what she was saying.

"What new slayer?" Kennedy asked, suddenly a bit annoyed that she didn't know what was going on

"That would be me," Grace said as Buffy led her inside, shutting the front door behind her. Both Dawn and Kennedy were shocked with the eccentric appearance of the new slayer.

"I just came to get my money, Dawn will you be okay here with Kennedy?" Buffy asked, reaching into the vanity near the front door and pulling out her small stash of money.

"I'll be fine" Dawn assured her, rolling her eyes. She couldn't believe how everyone still thought she was just a kid, just cause she didn't have any magic powers or strength, she was still a 17 year old.

"Okay, I'm just going to go change into something more comfortable" Buffy said as she turned and walked to her room, pulling out her earrings as she did. Grace nodded, and then crossed her arms, uncomfortable in the presence of strangers.

"So, what's your name?" Dawn asked eyes the new girl carefully, unsure of what she thought of her

"Grace" she replied, not looking at Dawn "Yours?" she continued looking at the wall, as if something was bothering her.

"I'm Dawn, this is Kennedy," she answered

"Hey" Kennedy said, also staring at this new girl, something wasn't quite right about her. Kennedy stopped thinking about it, she was probably just overreacting.

"Okay, we're off now" Buffy said walking out of her room in light blue denim jeans and a black tank-top and thick heeled boots. Grace opened the front door and stepped outside, the sun was just starting to go down.

"Have fun!" Dawn called as Buffy smiled at her little sister and closed the front door. Silence filled the room as soon as the door was shut.

"Did I really freak you out before? With the sword?" Dawn asked, kind of curious about how scary she could be exactly

"Pretty much yeah" Kennedy replied as they both laughed as the night began…

**Okay so that was chapter two! Reviews would be great and I will explain a lot more about Grace soon. Next chapter is going to have Faith and Robin, and a few fights. Thanks to people who have reviewed so far, you've been awesome!**


	3. What she wants

**Okay, Chapter 3 time, I hope you like, this was written based on what I thought would be interesting, I'm not trying to make a fairytale out of this. Don't own Buffy blah blah blah, you get the point, here we go! **

"So you've been slaying for a whole month and it hasn't freaked you out?" Buffy asked, amazed that she was casual about it. Grace laughed

"You got freaked?" she asked in response Buffy grimaced as her way of saying yes. The two slayers sat in the small all-ages club, on a table on the balcony; they searched high and low for a place this good and got settled in right away.

"So what was Sunnydale like? It sounds so peaceful and, well, sunny" Grace commented as Buffy thought about that question

"It was sunny, and it was the opposite of peaceful, unless you think that weekly vampire attacks and monsters are peaceful" Buffy added sarcastically, smiling at how true the statement really was.

"Well, if they don't scream when you kill them then I guess it could be pretty peaceful" Grace said, suddenly poking her head over her the railing of the balcony, Buffy poked her head over too

"What are you looking at?" Buffy asked, scanning the crowd just in case there were vampires hanging around. There was nothing but humans.

'Nothing, I thought I saw someone I recognized…" she replied, narrowing her eyes. She then turned back to Buffy

"So, now that shop talks done, lets talk personal" Grace said, smiling gleefully, Buffy's eyes widened

"How personal?" she asked fearfully

"Oh come on, you didn't think I'd ask?" she teased

"Ask what?" Buffy questioned cautiously

"What's your boyfriends name?" she asked as Buffy looked down at the table, before she could answer a waitress appeared with their meals. She placed down Buffy's ravioli and then gave Grace her nachos with extra cheese. As the waitress walked away Buffy looked up.

"Grace, if I told you something would you keep it a secret from everyone else?" Buffy asked in a sincere voice

"Scouts honor" she replied as her face fell into a more serious expression.

"I was…seeing someone, kind of…Spike…before the whole destruction of Sunnydale thing" she admitted slowly trying to get her point across properly.

"Didn't he make it out?" Grace asked, her voice drenched with pity.

"Yeah…well yes and no…if it hadn't been for him, it wouldn't have just been Sunnydale that got destroyed" she explained, trying to keep herself from crying.

"You mean, he like did a spell or something?" she asked

"Sort of…it was more like he had the power to clean it up, and he used it, and now he's gone" she said, her voice breaking slightly at the end. Grace's eyes went wide with surprise

"The Champion…" she whispered distantly

"What?" Buffy asked, not hearing what Grace had just said. Grace looked up immediately.

"I said, I'm sorry for your loss" she lied. Buffy smiled appreciatively. The song changed and the room filled with a techno-metal type of song.

"Want to go dance, you look like you could do with a dosage of fun" Grace offered as she stood up, watching the other teenagers dancing wildly.

"Hang on a sec," Buffy held up a hand and glared towards the dance floor. Faith was pushing her way through the crowd, looking around her, like she had lost someone.

"Who's that?" Grace asked, as Buffy turned to her

"That's Faith, the one I told you about, what's she doing here?" Buffy grumbled, she didn't really want to see Faith right now; she wasn't ready to apologize just yet.

"Just ignore her, I'm sure she's just looking for someone or something," she said, as Buffy relaxed her shoulders again. Suddenly she felt more open, like she could trust Grace, even though she had only met her today.

"You know, yesterday I was thinking…" Buffy began. Her expression was thoughtful.

"About that Spike guy?" Grace guessed

"Yeah… I was thinking how if there was a way, you know, to bring him back safely from wherever he is…" she wondered if she should ask Willow, after all she brought herself back from the grave, surely she could bring Spike back too…

"Would you do it?" Grace questioned, suddenly sounding dead serious

"Yeah, I would, as long as it was a reliable method" she answered

"What if there was? A reliable method?" Grace pushed the topic further sounding more and more serious.

"Ha! I wish there was" Buffy sighed in defeat, knowing there would probably be no sure way to get him back.

"Done." Grace's voice sounded weird, deeper than it had been a moment ago. Buffy looked up and jumped out her seat. Graces face was covered in purple vein like bumps, and her mouth twisted into a deformed grin.

"What the hell are you?" Buffy asked, her eyes wide with shock, how could this thing have fooled her all this time?

"Isn't it obvious?" she said, her voice had a strange echo to it. Suddenly Buffy remembered where she'd seen a face like that before.

"You're a vengeance demon" Buffy realized, feeling like a fool for having not noticed. Suddenly her head snapped up

"And I just made a wish" she realized suddenly scared, what had she just done?

"And I just granted it to you, what's your problem?" Grace hissed

"My problem is that vengeance spells tend to turn out badly!" she replied clenching her fists, prepared to fight. She quickly thought back to when Anya killed the fraternity boys and when Dawn got everybody trapped inside the old Summer's home.

"Oh please, none of my spells have ever gone wrong," she replied smugly as she held her palm upwards,

"Who are you?" Buffy questioned darkly

"I'm Gretel" she replied, as flames ignited above her palm, disappearing almost as soon as they started, in her palm rested a scroll. Buffy's heart raced, Gretel held the secrets to bringing Spike back. She had another thought though, she knew that the spell might bring him back wrong, she knew she had to refuse.

"This belongs to you, take it" Gretel ordered eyeing Buffy deviously

"Go to hell" Buffy growled at her, Gretel rolled her eyes and morphed back into her human face.

"Fine, but I expect you'll say sorry when your lover comes back" Gretel smirked as the scroll disappeared from her hand and reappeared at Buffy's feet.

"Buffy!" Faith called from behind her, looking from Buffy to Gretel in confusion.

"Faith stay back" Buffy instructed as Faith did as she was told.

"I don't want the spell, take it back" Buffy demanded coldly, Gretel just smiled

"We'll see" she laughed a high-pitched laugh as she began to teleport away from them. Faith was quicker; she broke off part of the metal from the banisters and threw it at Gretel before she could fade away. The metal pierced her arm as Gretel dropped to her feet; she stared at the wound in her arm. Buffy looked at Faith who was glaring down at the demon

"Now you've got some muscles on you" Gretel laughed and she looked back up at them, back in her demon face "want me to rip those out for you?" she grinned sadistically at Faith and she pulled the metal pole out from her arm grimacing a little at the sudden pain.

"Bring it" Faith said as Buffy picked up the spell while the two were distracted, she folded the yellowing paper and put it in her jean pocket. Gretel jumped atop the table she and Buffy were eating at.

"Say Buffy, why don't you tell them all those dark secrets you told me so easily? Could it be guilt?" she laughed as Faith stared at Buffy in confusion. Gretel took advantage of the situation she leaped at Faith, knocking her back with a kick.

"Faith!" Buffy screamed as Faith pulled herself to her feet, wiping fresh blood off her mouth.

"Mind if I kill this bitch?" Faith asked to Buffy, keeping her eyes on Gretel

"I wouldn't say yes Buffy, otherwise that spell will be useless" Gretel warned, Buffy shrugged

"I'm not really one for witchcraft anyway" she retorted as Gretel bared her yellowing teeth at them. Buffy then turned to Faith

"Make it hurt" she said bluntly, with both the girls looking away Gretel seized the moment again. She charged from where she stood and tackled Buffy, the two of them slid off the balcony. Landing with a thud, the dancers screamed in terror as they cleared the way. A few people watched the fight with interest, but the others evacuated from the back door.

"B!" Faith called from the balcony, Buffy looked up as Faith threw her the banister pole, as far as weapons went, and it was efficient enough. She twirled it around in her hand to get used to it then faced Gretel…only not Gretel. Buffy looked around herself only seeing the frightened look of various clubbers. She dropped her weapon, and sighed

"All that build up for nothing" she muttered as Faith ran down the stairs. She was panicked

"Buffy, what just happened?" she pointed to the balcony; Buffy turned around and looked Faith in the eye.

"I'm really not sure…" she replied she walked back to the house, with Faith beside her still trying to understand what she'd been told. _I can bring him back…_ the thought brought her back from her daze. She flipped her hair over her shoulder then turned to Faith.

"I need to speak with Willow, Xander and Giles, do you know where they are?" she asked, her eyes sparkling with determination. Faith raised an eyebrow

"Yeah, they're at Giles's place last time I checked" she looked at Buffy like she was going insane. Buffy nodded

"Thanks, I'll see you later okay?" Buffy turned and practically ran to Giles's house, Faith stood on the footpath not understanding any of what had just happened. She exhaled and then went back home too.

Buffy walked right into his house without bothering to knock. Xander was sitting on the couch flicking mindlessly through TV channels. He didn't even hear Buffy walk into the room.

"Xander?" she called trying to snap him back into reality. His head snapped up as he stared at Buffy in confusion

"Buff?" he questioned as if he wasn't really sure.

"Are you okay?" she said half smiling; it was almost funny how out of it he was. Giles came in through the archway like he was expecting something.

"Is Willow back? I heard another voice," Giles asked before he saw Buffy.

"Buffy!" he smiled like they hadn't seen each other in weeks. He came forward and placed a hand on her shoulder. Buffy smiled awkwardly

"We're all acting very strange today, what'd I miss?" she questioned as Giles took his hand off her shoulder.

"Nothing particularly interesting. Willow's just gone out looking for you actually" he replied, taking off his glasses so he could clean them.

"Oh. Right. Sorry…about before, I was upset and I took it out on you guys…I really shouldn't have…" Buffy tucked her hair behind her ear, waiting to see if they accepted her apology.

"Don't worry about it Buff, all's forgiven" Xander smiled warmly as he and Buffy shared a make-up-hug "So did you find the new slayer?" he asked as the three of them sat down. Buffy and Xander sat side by side on the long couch and Giles took the recliner.

"That's kind of what I need to talk to you guys about" she replied, her face suddenly fell into a more serious expression.

"You didn't find her?" Giles asked, slightly worried about the new slayer.

"No, that's just it, I found someone else, a demon. She called herself Grace and Giles I swear I didn't know!" she was already scared of what he would say when he heard she had made a wish to a vengeance demon.

"Didn't know what?" Giles asked placing his glasses back on carefully. Buffy exhaled.

"It was actually a vengeance demon" Buffy explained, Xander was giving his full attention now, already getting his hopes up.

"She called herself Gretel…and I made a wish…" Buffy declared waiting for the third degree.

"What for?" Giles was remaining unusually calm for a situation like this. Xander, although disappointed that it didn't have anything to do with Anya, listened anyway.

"For a way to bring Spike back…" she confessed while she reached into her jeans pocket. Giles stared at her in blank shock.

"My god, and did she?" he asked, suddenly jumping to conclusions

"No, no she didn't, but she did give me this…" Buffy placed the spell on the table; Giles took it and studied what was written inside.

"Dear lord…" he muttered, Buffy cringed as Xander watched them both not getting what they were so worried about.

"I'm sorry!" Buffy cried out, but was interrupted when Giles turned around with a large smile on his face.

"Buffy, how on earth did you get these? They were lost several centuries ago!" Giles was filled with childlike excitement with a smile so huge it was scaring Xander.

"Okay, watcha got there Watcher?" Xander asked loudly, feeling kind of left out.

"The Scroll of the Norns, lost for centuries, they can be used to bend to fabric of fate itself" he stared joyfully at the words, there were drawings on it, but in the middle was the spell itself.

"This is a good thing?" Xander asked raising an eyebrow.

"So you're sure this is legit, we're not going to bring back a whole bunch of cranky zombies or anything?"

"Yes, absolutely, but before we try anything I should look at this text more carefully, just in case" Giles replied walking into his study.

"So that scroll can bring people back?" Xander asked, not sounding as happy as before.

"Yeah, seems like" Buffy replied, already feeling hopeful until she took in Xanders expression "You wanna bring Anya back" Buffy realized

"Buffy, you know what its like, when you don't just love someone, you need them?" he questioned as Buffy smiled

"And knowing that they're really gone really hurts to just think about? Why do you think I got the scroll in the first place?" she asked, thinking back to her final moments with Spike. There was no longer any doubt towards him at that point, and if he had let her she would have gone to hell with him, but he had told her to run.

"If the scroll works, do you think? I mean…" Xander struggled to say the words out loud. Buffy placed a hand on his back and smiled.

"I don't know, I hope. But we'll have to wait and see what Giles can get from them" she replied as Xander placed a hand on her arm, grateful for the comfort.

"It's a passage" Giles spoke from the doorway.

"Care to expand on that Mr. Vague?" Buffy said, letting her hand drop from Xander's shoulder and stood up

"The spell, it creates a passage for the deceased to return to this realm, but the spell itself can only be used for three people" he explained holding a large leather bound book in his hands.

"So we can bring three people back?" Buffy confirmed as Giles nodded. Buffy turned around and met Xanders hopeful eyes. She smiled.

"I guess you get your wish too," she told him, still in shock from the news. Xander got up from the couch and embraced Buffy, he was happy enough he could cry. Of course he wasn't going to in front of Giles and Buffy.

"Well that makes two people, that leaves one more person right?" Xander said, his voice shaking from his ecstasy. Giles nodded, thinking that Buffy would ask to bring her mother back, which was understandable.

"Ms. Calendar…" Buffy said slowly. She then turned to Giles smiling.

"Mom coming back would be too hard…to confusing…after everything, and I think you deserve this Giles" she looked down at her feet and laughed "If you want it, that is" she offered. Giles stood in shock for a few moments

"Buffy it would mean the world to me, but if you'd rather" he stopped when Buffy held up her hand to silence him.

"I said its fine, therefore its fine" she assured him as he smiled warmly at her, remembering his more pleasant memories with Jenny. Buffy picked up the scroll and sighed in relief

"Now all we have to do is" she was interrupted

"Is Buffy here, I cant find her anywhere!" Willow called from the door "Oh. Hi Buffy." She grinned, and then her face fell as she stared at them all in confusion.

"What's going on?" she asked, closing the door behind her.

"Willow, are you up for a resurrection spell?" Buffy questioned looking her friend right in the eyes

"Oh Buffy you know that these spells never come out right, right?" Willow reminded her suddenly panicking

"Yeah, but this is legit, trust me, plus exhibit A; you brought me back just fine" she reassured her as Willow read the spell. She raised an eyebrow.

"What? Is there something wrong with it?" Xander asked, slightly impatient. Willow shook her head.

"Its just there's only one ingredient for this spell" she replied "And that would be what?" Xander asked, already nervous about Anya's possible return.

"A few drops of blood of the person the deceased was closest to" she replied, "I'm guessing that would be you guys" she began moving the coffee table out of the room, Giles bent down to help her.

"Okay, that's fine, lets do this" Buffy announced as they cleared space in the living room. Holding the paper up Giles and Willow went over the spell one last time while Buffy and Xander fetched a small steak knife.

"Okay ready?" Willow asked nervously Buffy and Giles on either side of her and Xander stood on Buffy's left.

"We're good to go Will" Xander replied impatiently, Willow exhaled and began chanting the spell, Buffy stood ready with the steak knife in her right hand.

"_Attraversi per tre, tre anime, tre vasi_" The floor suddenly developed an ethereal glow as a tremendous holy power flowed through Willow's every vein.

"_Jenny Calendar. Anya. Spike" _she chanted as Buffy cut into her finger and let it bleed into the light, the figure of a man began to show through the light. Buffy passed the knife to Giles who cut his finger then gave to knife to Xander. Soon enough three figures stood out within the light. Willow breathed heavily then finished the spell

"_Anima, alito e memoria_" the power left her body quickly and the light disappeared and lying on the living room carpet was Jenny, Spike and Anya all breathing heavily, looking like they were going to pass out from the journey. Willow dropped the scroll as it set alight and disappeared. Buffy, Xander, Giles and Willow all stared in astonishment of their success as Jenny, Spike and Anya stared back.

"Buffy…" Spike muttered before collapsing to the floor, Buffy ran over to him to make sure he was okay. He was just asleep, Buffy stroked his hair; glad to be able to touch him again tears fell down her face.

"Rupert?" Jenny whispered roughly before her eyelids fluttered and she began to fall. Giles leapt forward and caught her before she could hit the floor. He held her tight in his arms, small tears gathering in the corner of his eyes. Xander stared at Anya, waiting to hear her voice. Anya simply fell to floor following a loud thud. Xander ran over and picked her up, kind of embarrassed that he was the only one who didn't have an emotional reunion moment. Willow watched as they all held their lovers in their arms, she sighed and slumped against the couch. She laughed to herself.

"I did it" she muttered, then let her eyelids drop as she fell into a deep slumber. 


	4. Rude awakening

Giles let Jenny lie down on the couch until she regained consciousness. He sat by her feet; grateful he finally had a second chance with her. Ever since Angel had killed Jenny, Giles had never really loved a woman the same way he loved Jenny. He watched her face; it was almost surreal how peaceful she was.

"Giles?" Buffy snapped Giles from his thoughts, he was still a bit shocked.

"Is everything okay?" he asked, his voice sounding a little shaky, Buffy nodded "And Spike?" he asked, watching her carefully to make sure she really was okay.

"He's…um, he's in the car. He still hasn't woken up, but I think I should take him home, so he can sleep comfortably" she explained "And I guess you'd wanna be alone right now" she added playing absently with her hands. Giles nodded and laughed

"Ah yes, things may be a bit complicated now, I need… to think about some things" he replied, Buffy smiled

"Right, well Xander's taking Anya home now, so I guess I should set sail too" she smiled and closed the door for Giles. Giles listened until Buffy closed the front door; he lifted himself off the couch. He pulled Jenny's short black hair away from her face before he too left the room. He sat down on the living room sofa, staring at the blank spot in the middle of the room where Jenny had just appeared from not one hour ago. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

"How are you holding up?" he asked

"I'll be fine" Willow replied, snuggling up to a blanket on the recliner.

"I meant how are you now"

"I don't know, I mean… it's done. I did it…but" her voice cracked a little at the end

"It doesn't feel real yet" Giles finished for her

"You too huh?" she grinned, but the mood was still heavy, melancholy

Giles put his glasses back on and sighed. Willow sat up a bit more; she was definitely not getting to sleep anytime soon.

"Isn't this the part where you lecture me on not using magicks for these things?" Willow asked worriedly

"Those scrolls were famous, and rightly so. They have never failed to bring back a person without facing any consequences" Giles explained, reveling in the fact that he had his hands on them "But unfortunately, very few were passed into existence"

"Why?" Willow asked

"The scrolls were holy, they were pure magicks made by goddesses themselves, or so the tales tell" he clarified "Eventually other people, warlocks and demons gained possession of them and made new restoration spells with less than thrilling results" he concluded

"They came back wrong?"

"They came back missing parts" Giles corrected as Willows face fell in disgust

"Allow me to 'ew' that notion" she thought back to the spell she used on Buffy to bring her back from the beyond. She knew there was a small chance of her coming back wrong, but missing parts would have been too much to handle. It was bad enough they had to deal with a hitchhiker but if Buffy had come back missing a limb or two, she knew she wouldn't have been able to forgive herself.

"Not parts of their body, parts of their essence, things like memories, souls, emotions things that are built over time, they would come back missing those things, resulting in nothing but an empty shell" Willow grimaced again.

"Giles…what if… what if I did it wrong?" Willow asked in a small voice afraid of the answer.

"That spell was pure Willow, and you did an impressive job" Giles assured her, but tears spilled over the edges of her eyes regardless.

"We don't know that though, what if they don't remember who we are, what if they cant feel emotions? What if I've just made a huge mistake? Giles I don't know what I'm meant to do!" Willow out her head in her hands and sobbed quietly.

"You're wrong" Giles said simply, Willow looked up and met his eyes; he was smiling warmly at her "They said our names, so they have memories and I've no doubt they have emotions too" Giles reassured her and she smiled warmly.

"Willow, may I ask you one more question?" Giles checked before he said something he'd regret.

"You've still got what, eighteen out of twenty left?" she teased "Shoot" she said, wiping the remaining tears from her eyes.

"You didn't ask to bring Tara back" Giles stated, expecting she would give him at least a brief explanation.

"The spell was for three people" she responded quickly, like she had that answer planned for a while.

"But you didn't even ask, when you of all people deserve it" Willow grimaced

"No, I don't" she replied flatly. She had obviously given it some thought before Giles brought it up. Giles looked at her, waiting for her to answer his question.

"Giles, I've killed, and I don't think I can face her again…besides the scrolls are gone now" she added obviously holding back.

"You think she'd be afraid of you?" Giles questioned

"She always worried about me dabbling too much in the black arts, imagine how betrayed she'd feel if she knew I'd over-dabbled like that? If she knew what I did to Warren…" her eyes grew wider at the memory of Warrens dead body

"You're a smart girl, you'll figure it out" Giles assured her, patting her head Willow half smiled

"Can't someone just figure it out for me to save me the trouble?" she joked, Giles just laughed with her then left the room so Willow could get some much needed sleep. Giles sat in the dining room with the lights on dim, as he began reading a new book.

Xander pulled his car into Buffy's empty driveway; he drove with one hand on the wheel and another around Anya's shoulders. She was exactly the way Xander remembered, clear face, curly blonde locks and snoring softly in her sleep. He turned back to see Buffy had already jumped out of the car, anxious to take care of Spike he guessed. Before Xander could blink the backseat door opened and Buffy pulled Spike out, she was still able to hold his weight up on her own.

"Take care" Xander fare welled her as she smiled, exhaustion of the days events suddenly getting to her.

"You too, sleep well" she replied going to shut the door with her hip.

"Buff?" he asked just before the door clicked shut, Buffy held it open with her foot then looked at Xander expectantly.

"Do you know if the spell…you know, had any side effects?" he asked cautiously, afraid he might piss her off again.

"Giles told me the spell was legit, more reliable even than the one that brought me back" she reassured. He nodded taking her word for it.

"Good luck" Buffy smiled, understanding what he meant, she nodded as her way of saying 'you too'. With that Buffy slammed the door and began walking to her front door while Xander drove off. Dawn opened the door for her sister but came to a stop when she saw who was in Buffy's arms. She met eyes with Buffy and shut her mouth. Something about Buffy's expression told her to back off for now.

"Dawn, go open my bedroom door" she commanded in a whisper, Dawn nodded, frowning a little at the sudden bossiness. Kennedy who was sprawled out on the couch looked at Spike in confusion and something else Buffy couldn't recognize… distrust maybe. Dawn was waiting at Buffy's door, arms crossed against her chest. Buffy ignored her as she gently put Spike down on her bed, she'd sleep on the couch tonight.

"What did you do?" Dawn asked in a deep whisper.

"I don't know, I'll explain in the morning," she said, never taking her eyes off Spike. Slowly and carefully she reached her hand out, she needed to know this wasn't a dream, it still felt all too unreal to her. Without warning a large cold hand jumped out and grasped at her wrist. Buffy held back a gasp as she watched Spike open his crystal blue eyes. He looked straight back at her with an unreadable expression.

"Buffy?" his voice was croaky, but at least he wasn't acting like an animal, like Angel had when he came back from Hell so many years ago.

"It's okay, its okay now" she said stroking the side of his face, she was so happy she had tears in her eyes already.

"Where am I?" he asked looking around at his new surroundings. No matter where he looked everything was drenched in Buffy's smell, possibly the only thing calming him down right now was the fact that she was here.

"Rest, I'll explain it later, okay?" She said taking her hand away from his face. She got off the bed, but Spike tightened his grasp on her wrist.

"Stay here, pet," he asked with his eyes closed, Buffy stared for a moment then smiled. She placed herself down on the bed and let him put his arms around her. It felt nice, almost surreal how safe she felt in the vampires' arms. Before long they both fell asleep, peaceful as if nothing had even happened.

Xander woke up early the next morning, the sun shining in his eyes. He mentally swore at himself for not shutting the blinds last night, he was still completely drained. He rubbed his eyes then put on a pot of coffee, getting out two mugs, one for him, one for Anya. He jumped into his fluffy navy slippers and walked over to his bedroom, where Anya was sleeping. He creaked the door open and stuck his head; she was still out like a light. He walked in and sat near to her head. He put a hand on her shoulder accidentally waking her up. Her eyes were hazy at first from waking so abruptly then they were wide with fear.

"Anya, honey, are you okay?" Xander spoke slowly just in case she was disoriented from wherever she had been. She sat up strangely fast and back away from Xander. Xander tried to reach out for her. She put her hands on her ear and screamed.

"Help me!" she called, as Xander stared at her in shock and confusion.

"Anya?" he asked, watching her expression turn from fear to anger.

"Who are you?" she asked bluntly, looking him up and down.

"Who am I? Anya, are you being serious?" some part of him was thinking this all must be some sort of weird underworld joke.

"Who is 'Anya' and why am I in your bedroom? It's unfamiliar and smells off-putting," she stated bluntly then looked down at her clothing.

"Oh my god" she said, Xander stared at her, his confusion growing and growing

"What?"

"You changed me?! What kind of weird sicko are you?" she asked clutching at the oversized baggy shirt Xander had put her in to make her more comfortable while she slept.

"This isn't a joke is it?" he suddenly realized what was happening

"No, this is not a very humorous situation and I'd like to know who I am and how I got here… it smells like coffee…" she pointed out while Xander looked back at the door.

"Right, um, I can and will explain everything to you in a moment, I just have to go call someone" he began walking to door, quickly turning back to Anya "Don't go anywhere, just sit there, and don't touch anything, okay?" he waited for her to respond while placing one hand on the door knob.

"Fine, fine, you act very weird for a human male" she added at the end, Xander turned around and smiled.

"At least she still talks like Anya…" he spoke to himself as Anya snapped her head up

"What was that?" she called and Xander shook his head and closed the bedroom door.


	5. Problems

"She doesn't remember being in hell?" Buffy asked incredulously. She was leaning against the kitchen counter waiting for the microwave. Willow had called in to alert Buffy she was staying at Giles's house to do some reading, which meant Kennedy was going there too. Buffy and Dawn liked Kennedy just fine but a lot of the time she just got in the way.

"No, she doesn't remember anything, she looks like Anya, speaks like Anya but she has no idea who Anya is" Xander explained, eyeing his bedroom door briefly, expecting to see Anya spying on him.

"So memory blank?" Buffy replied uncertainly.

"Yeah! I'm guessing it's the same for you and Giles right, please say I'm right" he was already panicking on the other end of the phone.

"No, Spike seems to be just like he was, still a vampire, still has memories, he's got the whole package" Buffy replied, glad she got a lucky break.

"That's great, what about Giles?" Xander seemed keen not to be in on this all-alone.

"I'd say things are fine on his end too, Willow would have said something otherwise"

"Willow called?"

"Yeah, just before you did, why?" the microwave signaled that it was finished. Buffy opened it up and took out the mug of blood and checked the microwave for any accidental blood stains.

"Its nothing, I gotta go, Anya's pretty jumpy this morning" Xander glanced at the door again

"Well yeah, waking up in a strangers room doesn't really calm a girl down" Buffy explained

"Really because I for one, really wouldn't mind waking up in a girls room from time to time" Xander joked, or at least Buffy thought he was kidding.

"Bye" she laughed as she placed the phone back on the wall. As she closed the microwave door she became aware that she was being watched.

"You're up kind of early," she stated as Dawn stared at her coldly.

"Yeah, guess it has something to with all the secrets and lies" she replied, scowling like a child. Buffy gave Dawn a 'give-me-a-break' type of look then set the mug down of the kitchen bench.

"I didn't keep any secrets from you, and I didn't lie so I think you're taking this all a bit personally" she replied, trying to say it as politely as possible.

"What about Grace, she knows about it right?" the jealous undertone was hard to miss.

"Grace turned out to be a vengeance demon Dawn, and what are you so upset about anyway?" Buffy expected she'd say something like boy-troubles.

"Willow talked to Kennedy, Kennedy said you got a spell to bring back the dead" Dawn crossed her arms, glaring down at Buffy.

"Dawn just tell me what's going on, I'll try to help"

"You got a legit resurrection spell and you didn't even think about bringing mom back," Dawn grumbled through gritted teeth. Buffy's face fell

"Yes, I did, Dawn. How could you even think that I didn't?" she was seriously offended.

"Because you obviously didn't think hard, you only care about bringing the murderous vampire home so _you _can be happy" she accused, Buffy's eyes widened with anger.

"You know that's not true" she retorted

"Do I?" she raised her eyebrows "Because I seem to be the only one who remembers her anymore" she declared

"What are you talking about?" Buffy snapped

"No one cares anymore that mom's dead, you all just care about you being happy, have you guys ever stopped to think that I _need_ mom?" she chided

"Dawn, I've been trying my best to take care of you, did you even notice that huh? You're almost seventeen and I still do your washing for you!" she added defensively.

"Whatever" Dawn grumbled as she whipped around and stormed over to her room.

"Get ready for school, Faith will be here soon" Buffy called out

"I'm not going!" Dawn yelled back angrily as she slammed her door and locked it. Buffy sighed and went to go make amends, but stopped after stepping on something.

"Dawn! What the hell is your good axe doing on the floor?" she called out while banging on the door. She heard Dawn turn her music up loud; obviously to drown out whatever Buffy had to say. Buffy sighed and returned to the kitchen, placing the axe down on the kitchen bench. She picked up Spikes breakfast and walked back to her room. She opened the door slowly. Seeing Spike standing in the corner looking frightened.

"Spike?" she asked cautiously before noticing she had her bedroom window wide open. Then she noticed the Spikes hands and arms were sizzling.

"Oh god, Spike!" she quickly shut the windows and pulled the blinds in, darkening the room for Spike. Spike sat back down on the bed and Buffy offered him the mug of blood, he smiled at her and took it. Her heart skipped a beat; she forgot how stunning his blue eyes could be.

"Sorry about the whole sunlight thing, I kind of forgot my vampire etiquette since I haven't really had any vampires in my room lately" she rolled her eyes at herself "Stupid thing to say, of course I haven't…" she fiddled with her hands, waiting eagerly for his response.

"How long was I… gone for?" he asked, watching her every move. She turned her head to look back at him.

"A month" she replied, seeing the brief surprise flash in his eyes.

"Not that I'm not grateful love, but why'd you bring me back?" he asked as her eyes darted to the floor.

"That's kind of a long story" she evaded the topic, he placed a hand on top of hers, making her heart do a double take.

"Suns up, I've got time" he nudged his bleached blonde head towards the window. Gently brushing her hand with his.

"You drink, I'll talk… I'll fill you in on everything" she promised eyeing his mug. She knew he had to be starving after a trip to hell, and she still didn't know how much time he spent there.

"Sounds like you've got quite a tale to tell kitten," he said taking a gulp.

"Yeah, oh first things first, Sunnydale is gone" she said casually like it was no big deal at all.

"Gone?" he repeated, obviously not knowing the full effect the amulet had "Gone how, love?"

Xander stormed up the front of Giles's house and threw the door open, glad that Giles was too preoccupied to lock it. He walked into the kitchen, he wasn't angry, but he needed answers before he did get angry. He found Giles halfway through a book and looking surprised that Xander was in front of him

"I could have sworn I locked that," he mumbled to himself shutting the book.

"Giles! This is bad!" he said, jumping at the sound of a door opening. He turned around expecting to see Anya even though she said she'd wait in the car.

"Well you certainly sound like something's bad" Jenny said watching him curiously from the door. Xander stared at Jenny is surprise; Giles just watched her, treasuring the moment.

"Jenny…" he whispered, she smiled.

"I borrowed your shirt, my clothes were smelling like… the library, I hope that's okay?" she said tugging at the dark blue shirt that was practically a dress on her.

"Ah, yes that's quite alright" he said placing the book down on the table.

"Still the same old Rupert" she smiled sweetly as she took a breath "Thank you…for what you did…" she began

"Actually that was Willow" he corrected her as Xander remembered what he came there for.

"Oh! Willow! That's right!" he said clicking his fingers to get their attention.

"What about Willow?" Giles asked, confusion written all over his face.

"The spell, it did something… to Anya" he proclaimed as Giles face became a lot more serious.

"Dear Lord, is she alright?" he questioned

"No, no she forgot who she is, she's forgotten everything that ever happened to her" he tried his best to explain it right, even though he didn't fully understand it himself.

"Are you certain its Anya?" Giles asked

"No one else can be that direct to someone they think they just met," he explained

Jenny cleared her throat "Uh," she looked at them both, completely clueless "Who's Anya?" she said, Giles and Xander explained a look.

"Great so you lost your memory too!" he exhaled

"Jenny never met Anya, Xander" Giles pointed out, Xander laughed awkwardly

"Right, yeah, I uh, I knew that" he said sitting down and closing his mouth. Giles shook his head then smiled apologetically at Jenny

"You may want to sit down, this could take a while," he warned as she obediently took a seat. Giles sighed as he started the story of Anya. Willow stood just outside the door tears falling down her face; she'd failed. She'd failed and now Anya was in trouble because of her. She walked out of the front door, uncertain of where she was even headed. But there was one place she wanted to go. She didn't notice Anya watching her from Xanders car. Anya tried to determine whether or not she should tell someone that the red-haired woman had left. She decided to stay put, like Xander had asked her to.

"These people are weird" she spoke to herself, slumping down into the backseat and closing her eyes.

Faith walked down the high school hallway feeling completely out of place. She stuck out like a black dot on a blank canvas, in fact in this crystal clean school, she pretty much was. She walked past what looked like an art class and several of the boys stopped what they were doing to watch her walk down the hall. Faith tried to ignore them but there stares were burning a hole in the back of her head. She turned around using her scariest glare and the boys went back to what they were doing without hesitation.

"Are you Faith?" a guys voice asked from behind her. She turned around looking pretty annoyed; she'd had her fill of underage attention.

"Who the hell are you?" she asked eyeing him, for a high school boy he looked all right she decided. He had dark hair, darker than Faith's but not quite black, he was tall, maybe a little thin but he had enough muscle to not look lanky.

"Nick, I've seen you before, with Dawn" he explained casually.

"You one of her friends?" Faith questioned, if he wasn't she was walking away.

"You could say that," he smirked and Faith rolled her eyes and walked off. Walking into Robin's office. He looked up from some papers he was scribbling on.

"Come in?" he said as Faith shut the door and took off her jacket. She wore her favourite red halter top and sat on top of his desk

"You have some real creepy kids at this school" she commented as he grinned.

"Well, I try" he joked and she smiled

"No I mean for real, like not weird creepy, I'm talking hellmouth creepy" she stated as Robin raised his eyebrows "No offence" she added quickly.

"You mean all of them?" he asked, suddenly interested he closed the folder he was writing in.

"No, just this kid who talked to me in the hall" she pointed a thumb to the hall "Nick or something" she said flipping her hair over her shoulders.

"Nick Cross?" he asked, Faith shrugged and placed her hand in mid air

"Bout' yay tall, dark hair, brown eyes" she described what she could remember of him.

"Oh yes, Mr. Cross. He's got a pretty colorful record down here, he managed to be at school for two weeks and not go to a single class the whole time" he told Faith as she raised her eyebrow.

"Impressive" she praised the boy even though he wasn't in the room

"I'm positive you mean that in a bad way" Robin said watching Faith as she smiled and hopped off the desk. She walked around it and sat on Robins lap.

"That's my report principal" she smiled sweetly as she leaned in and kissed him. He held her around the waist and kissed her back. As they pulled apart Robin smiled

"I'll look into it" they kissed again "Later" he breathed as they kissed again, losing themselves in each other.


	6. Talking to Tara

**Thanks to reviewers, you guys keep me going! Anyway, on we go with Chapter 6!**

Willow walked quickly through the streets of Cleveland until she finally found the place she wanted to be at. She was upset, afraid and ashamed of herself and still had tears running down her face. She opened the gate to the magic shop named _the cauldron, _which made Willow miss the Magic Box; at least the shop had a good name back at Sunnydale. She opened the door and the entire place was lit with candles and there were several charms and dream catchers hanging from the rooftop. A brunette woman in her mid forties smiled from behind the blue counter.

"Welcome, please feel free to look around" the woman kept her youth well and was obviously used to using that greeting. Willow smiled and walked directly over to the dark brown shelves containing items like gems, different types of rocks, bird feathers and herbs. Willow picked out what she needed, knowing which items were really magical and which weren't. Recently after gaining her goddess level of power she'd become much less reluctant to do spells. It just felt safer somehow, knowing that her power was pure now. She walked up to the counter and placed the things down on the counter.

"This is for a Romanian summoning spell," the woman pointed out while ticking the items off from inside a folder. She was very old fashioned, Willow couldn't sense any electronic vibes from anywhere in the store, it was very calming.

"Yes, I know" she replied before she reached into her pockets and groaned in annoyance.

"Is something wrong?" the woman asked, sounding truly concerned.

"I'm so sorry, I forgot to bring my money with me" Willow confessed expecting to be asked to leave the store, instead the woman smiled.

"You can pay me back later, just let me take down your name first" she replied, Willow grinned at her generousness. Willow gave her details to the woman, a bit embarrassed about forgetting her new phone number. She'd left her phone in Sunnydale and there was no chance of ever getting that back.

"Thanks" Willow scooped up her purchases before the woman could offer her a bag to carry it all. Unable to carry it all she dropped her jar of bluebird feathers. The glass shattered into several shards across the room, Willow was frozen with shock over breaking someone else's things.

"What was that?" a high-pitched feminine voice called from upstairs. Willow began to apologize but the woman held up a hand to silence her.

"Honey, grab a broom, you're up!" the woman instructed. Willow watched in confusion as a girl with short glossy black hair with a white dyed fringe ran down the stairs with a wooden broom. The girl had her nose pierced and a tattoo on her left arm, and she looked incredibly annoyed.

"Mom, what the hell? You're meant to give them bags for breakable crap!" she complained staring at the mess she was about to have to clean up.

"I'm sorry, I can help if you want?" Willow offered sheepishly. The black haired girl shifted her glare to Willow and her eyes narrowed even more.

"Thanks a lot" she grumbled

"Grace! Don't be like that in front of customers!" her mother scolded her, but Grace ignored her. Willows thoughts froze as soon as she realized what the woman had just said.

_Grace _and the girl looked exactly like the girl Buffy said Gretel pretended to be. Besides how many girls in Cleveland could have the tattoo, the nose ring and hairstyle. She picked up her bluebird feathers and held onto them and then ran out the door without saying another word. Grace stopped bickering with her mother and stared at the door, slightly confused.

"It's been a while since we've had a real powerful Wicca in here" the woman thought absently to herself, she looked up at Grace, hoping to get a response.

"Did she even pay for all that stuff?" Grace questioned, raising a thin black eyebrow.

"So you got your hands on a spell, then Willow mojo'd Anya and Jenny back from the beyond, and Sunnydale is now a giant hole in the ground?" Spike confirmed, finding it hard to believe he was only gone a month.

"And you as well" Buffy corrected

"Yeah I got that part love" he replied, they'd spent the afternoon cuddling up to each other on Buffy's bed. Spike was happy to stay like this for as long as possible, but there was something he'd been desperate to know.  
"Pet?" Spike asked, lightly shaking her elbow to get her full attention. Buffy was snapped away from her moment of bliss. She glanced up at Spike and they met eyes for a moment, Spike felt her heart speed up and smiled slightly.

"Before, in the cave…" he began, it felt like just yesterday Buffy had told him that she loved him, he needed to know if that was still the case. Buffy searched her brain, thinking he was referring to being in a hell dimension, then it finally clicked and she dropped her gaze from his.

"You said that you," he was interrupted by Dawn opening the door "Oh bloody hell!" he groaned, Buffy was almost grateful that her little sister had done that, but also kind of annoyed

"Geez, get a room you guys" she mocked as Buffy glared at her.

"Dawn, this _is _my room, now get out" she commanded

"Fine, but I thought you might want to speak to Willow, she says its important" Dawn informed her, leaving the two alone.

"Lets do this later, okay?" Buffy said softly, referring to cuddling

"Alright love" he replied, referring to Buffy's 'I love you' back before he died. They got up and walked out into the living room to see a distressed Willow. Buffy ran over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Will, what's wrong?" she asked concerned that something might have hurt her.

"Not wrong, this is good" she replied, half smiling but the distress still staying in her eyes.

"Its Grace, I found her," she said, watching Buffy's face change to a look of confusion

"Well where is she now?" Buffy asked exchanging a look with Spike.

"At a magic shop, in town, but its like she's been here longer than a few days, weeks at least" Willow replied, raising her eyebrows. Buffy stood up, and drummed her fingers against her hips.

"Well tell me where this magic shop is and we'll go talk to her" Buffy decided

"Buff, I'm really sorry but I can't" Willow said genuinely meaning it "I've got some stuff I really need to do" she said waiting for Buffy to respond

"Oh, um, no that's okay, you go ahead" they hugged then Willow bounced out the front door. Buffy looked outside, it was sunset, but still pretty light out

"I'll go, you stay here and look after Dawn" Buffy instructed Spike, opening a drawer in the coffee table and pulling out a stake. Spike nodded

"Watch your back," he warned her as she smiled and walked out the door. Spike heard the door lock and sat himself down on the couch in front of the TV. The phone rang as soon as Spike turned the TV on. He groaned and got up off the couch only to have Dawn push past him in a rush. He watched her pick up the phone, her face going slightly red

"Nick…hey" she said, suddenly sounding far too casual, she glanced at Spike and shot a nasty glare at him and stormed back into her room.

"Safe to assume she wont need much minding I guess," he mumbled to himself, getting comfortable again. He started absently flicking through the channels waiting for Buffy to return.

Willow found a graveyard close to the house, but not too close that she'd be caught. She took ingredients out of the bag she'd packed before letting Dawn know she was home. She set it up exactly the way the spell required her, she began sprinkling herbs over the small summoning shrine. She closed her eyes and let her body relax and she could feel like the power running through her again. It was like electricity but it felt nice, warm, and safe.

"_Willow?" _the words rang in her mind, it was almost shocking how surreal how pleasant it felt to her.

"_Tara, baby is that you?" _

"_Willow, how did you reach me, only a fully realized…" _Tara broke off halfway finally realizing that Willow had realized her full potential

"_I knew you'd do it" _Willow smiled as she began to cry tears of joy

"_Tara, I've missed you so much" _

"_Me too, I've missed you too"_

"_I ruined it Tara, oh God, it feels so bad!" _Willow continued to cry as Tara continued to speak through Willows mind

"_No, no you didn't, its okay, something's coming and its going to make everything better" _Tara assured her

"_But I messed it up, and now…" _

"_No, sweetie no, calm down, I promise you, something's coming to fix things" _Willow wiped her eyes, her vision still blurry from crying so much

"_What's coming? Is it bad?" _

"_No, nothing like that, but you do remember right, you can't have one thing without…" _Willow broke her off

"_Giving something in return…" _

"_Exactly…" _Willow suddenly panicked

"_The fates… oh God, what do they need? Tara, please?" _

"_I can't say, it's not my place, but everything will be okay, you have to be strong right? Like an Amazon" _Tara's voice faded, which probably meant her time was up until she redid the spell. Willow began to rush home, she didn't know what the fates needed to take, but she needed to be there when they took it.

Spike was scanning the fridge trying to find something, since he'd already drank all the blood Buffy gave him, he was still somewhat fuzzy on how she got that. Dawn walked back into the kitchen and put the phone back on the receiver. She ignored the look of interest from Spike. Suddenly the stares just got too much for her, she whipped around and clenched her fists.

"If you don't stop staring at me, I will stake you, I don't care what Buffy says" she threatened, catching Spike off guard. She stomped out of the room, Spike followed, it was his job to look after her after all, and he felt like he should know what was wrong.

"Dawn," he began to say something else when suddenly something hit him hard, in the chest. He clutched his shirt, suddenly in a great amount of pain. He let out a muffled scream of pain as he fell to floor, almost as if someone had stabbed him with a hundred needles all at once. Dawn turned around, forgetting about her anger and running over to Spike, trying to support his weight. She watched in fear as he collapsed to ground, she didn't know what to do, she couldn't check for a pulse, she couldn't call the police and Buffy didn't have her phone anymore.

"Help me!" she screamed as high as she could hoping her next door neighbors were home "PLEASE, SOMEBODY!" she called even louder while tears gathered in her eyes, she looked once more at Spike unmoving figure, with shaking figures she turned him over. Not knowing why, she placed a hand over his heart. It was beating. It was beating in strong even beats, just like a humans.


	7. Saving Grace

_14 hours ago…_

"_Hey? You awake yet?" Gretel leaned against the cave wall, nothing but boredom in her expression. She chose to show her demon face this time; some of the tougher customers needed some… persuading. _

"_Come on vampire, I haven't got all day" she growled "Well actually I do, but I'm bored, lets get down to vengeance already" she complained as the vampire shifted position under the brown blanket it was huddled under. Gretel sighed and pulled the blanket away, revealing the beaten, bruised face of a female vampire. _

"_I knew it, now talk, what's causing the heartache honey?" Gretel questioned fiddling with her belly button piercing, her power center. _

"_Its none of you damn business, leave me alone" she pointed a scarred finger towards to opening of the cave from which bright sheets of sunlight were slowly creeping in. _

"_I wish, but you're giving me a freaking headache, I'm not leaving till you start wishing," she stated boldly, pissing off the vampire even further. _

"_I wish your insides exploded," she hissed _

"_Your hearts wish, God! Are all vampires so anti-social, I'm trying to help you here!" she whined, as the vampire smiled _

"_Fine, then I have a wish" she bared her teeth, which were stained in dry blood. Gretel smiled in satisfaction_

"_Finally" she whispered then morphed into her human face "Now honey, tell me, who's getting killed tonight?" _

_Now… _

Grace locked up the doors and went to flick off the lights, but saw someone heading for the store. Carefully she stood outside the door, arms crossed

"Stores closed, what do you want?" she asked defensively

"You're closing up pretty early, aren't you?" Buffy questioned back suspiciously. Grace pulled part of her fringe out of her eyes, revealing what looked like a really old bruise.

"Its 6.30, most stores close at 5 in this area" she replied, closing the door slightly with her foot.

"Well I guess you wont mind if I just look around for a few minutes" Buffy said walking closer towards the door, Grace glared.

"What are you doing?" she whispered angrily

"I'm browsing, you know, for magic stuff" Buffy replied faking innocence as she pushed the door open forcefully. Grace reacted before Buffy could get a good look at what was inside, punching her hard in the jaw. Buffy stumbled back a few steps; it hurt, but not too much.

"What are you hiding, Grace?" Buffy asked rubbing her jaw with the back of her hand.

"Don't come back here, ever again or I will kill you," she threatened waiting for Buffy to leave.

"You're a slayer," Buffy stated as Grace looked back inside briefly.

"And you're a psycho" she retorted slamming the door and locking it behind her. Grace watched until Buffy went away. She breathed a sigh of relief. Her mother walked around from behind the counter, fiddling with her nametag 'Molly' it read. She looked up at her daughter in amusement

"Who was that?" she questioned as Grace turned around, her eyes wide with horror.

"Nothing, ma, just another noisy customer" she laughed and shrugged as if it was just another day. Her mother grimaced and shook her head, walking towards Grace.

"Don't lie to me, you little bitch" she spat as she slapped Grace hard across the cheek, knocking her to the floor.

"Mum, really" she pleaded as her mother picked her up by the collar. Molly slammed her daughter against the wall and punched her face enough times that she drew blood.

"Closing hours are at 6.30" she growled "You don't speak to anyone, you don't look at anyone after that time, do you understand me?" she asked letting go of Grace. Grace coughed and nodded frantically.

"It wont happen again, I swear it, I'm sorry…I'm sorry" she cried as Molly walked outside into the night leaving Grace crying on the floor.

Willow walked inside the door she heard a beeping sound. She threw the door open and didn't bother to close it. She looked around expecting something bad but everything was exactly the way it had been when she left.

"Dawnie?" she called getting no reply she walked into the kitchen cupboards were open and food packets were everywhere, she walked into the living room slightly confused.

"Spike?" she questioned seeing him lying down and eating wheat-a-bix with a jar half full of peanut butter. Around him scattered various other half eaten foods.

"Welcome home" Dawn laughed nervously she was sitting on the end of the couch helping herself to some cookies.

"Thanks, what happened and why is Spike eating food?" she asked right away, not interested in small talk. Maybe what Tara said was happening sooner than she thought.

"Do you know who you are?" she asked to Spike, slowly as if speaking to a child.

"Yeah love, know who you are too, got anymore of these?" he asked showing her the empty packet. Willow glanced at Dawn again who was staring at Spike in bewilderment.

"Okay Buffy calls me the eating machine, but come on, compared to him I'm not even greedy-guts-junior!" Dawn said stuffing yet another cookie into her mouth.

"Dawn, what happened?" Willow asked again, impatiently this time.

"Spike's human now, I called Giles he's on his way over with Ms. Calendar"

"How?" Willow asked, completely confused; this wasn't taking anything away, it gave him life back. Willow looked at Spike quickly then walked over to Dawn and pulled her head to her ear so she could ask something.

"Dawn if you did anything, tell me now" she whispered sternly.

"No, he walked into the room as vampire Spike then boom, heartbeat" she said, skipping the details of the temporary agony he went through.

"I'm going to go and find Buffy" Willow announced heading for the door again. Dawn made a small complaining noise.

"Dawn, its fine, your 18 I'm sure you can handle this" Willow reassured her as Dawn smiled weakly.

"Right, at least I'm not at home with a vampire who could kill me, I'm home with human who knows how to kill someone without fangs anyway…safe as houses" she muttered, trying to get her point across

"Right, see, you'll be fine" Willow replied, not really caring about Dawns whining. She knew that Spike would never hurt her.

"I'll be back soon, bye!" she said slamming the door hearing Dawn say something aloud she wasn't meant to hear. As she walked through the streets trying to find Buffy, but giving up once she hit the front of the store. There was no light coming from the store but couldn't think of where else Buffy could be. She knocked on the door, peaking though the windows. Everything was exactly as it had been this afternoon; the broken glass what still there and everything. Sensing something behind her quickly flipped around prepared to use a spell if she had to. It was the shopkeeper, the nice woman who had served her this morning.

"Oh, um Hi!" she smiled hoping she would remember her from the afternoon. The woman titled her head the grimaced.

"Why are you back here? The shops closed" she growled, her voice completely hostile.

"I was looking for my friend, a blonde girl, you may have seen her, she came here not long ago" Willow explained

"Oh right her" she said faking sweetness then grimaced again "the dumb bitch couldn't read the closed sign apparently" she snarled "Kind of like you, but with blonde hair" she laughed cruelly. Willow stepped into a fighting position and the woman snorted

"Who are you?" she asked, reciting a spell in her mind just in case.

"I'm the kind old shopkeeper, we spoke this morning you little tramp," she said flipped her hair over her shoulders and rubbing her stomach.

"No your not, you're a vampire" Willow stated and the woman grinned

"I'm Molly, I'll be killing you now" she morphed into her vampire face, it was twisted and evil, matching her new behavior. Buffy pulled Molly back by the neck of her shirt, pushing her against the wall, the vampire hissed under her grip.

"Let me go!" she screamed kicking Buffy away from her. She ran inside a large crash could be heard, and then she walked back with Grace in front of her.

"Grace?" Buffy questioned what she saw, Grace was already a slayer, why didn't she fight her way out this?

"You're using your own daughter as a shield?" Willow asked in disgust "I don't think that's good for your business Molly" Buffy added sarcastically, getting an idea, she exchanged a look with Willow while they exchanged thoughts. Willow raised her hands and used her magicks to separate Grace from Molly. Buffy threw he stake to Grace, Grace looked at her in horror.

"You have to do this!" Buffy instructed. She knew Grace would never be ready to be a slayer if she could do this as hard as it may be. She knew the pain on losing a mother, but the rules of slaying were pretty clear.

"I can't! She's my mother!" Grace protested, Molly smiled and placed her hand out in front of her.

"Good girl, now give the stake to mommy" she demanded still in vampire face, Grace was shivering with fear.

"She's not your mother anymore, whatever that thing is it's not your mother, would she ever do this to you?" Buffy questioned knowing already the answer.

"No but" Grace began tears filling in her eyes, this was way too much for her, she didn't want to kill her own mother, not even if was a demon.

"If you kill me, you'll have no where to go, you'll be homeless, you'll die!" Molly warned angrily, not wanting to lose the fight.

"No, you wont, you can come back with us, we can help you," Willow promised with a warm smile. Grace looked back and forth between Buffy and Willow and her mother. Slowly with devastation in her eyes she walked towards her mother.

"Grace, no, no! You don't have to do this!" Buffy called, trying to reach her, if she was even still there.

"Yes, I do," she replied in a daze. Her mother laughed and walked towards he daughter once they were close enough Grace looked up into her mother's eyes.

"Mother loves you Gracey," she mocked,

"Sorry Mom, I'm moving out" she replied staking her before Molly could react. She clutched the stake and fell to the pavement in tears. Willow ran over and began comforting her as Buffy looked around her.

"This isn't over, I think she was planning some sort of tea party," Buffy said looked around at the rooftops, Willow could feel it too; they ran out of that place as fast as they could. They knew that Grace wouldn't be able to handle more slaying right now.

"Thanks" Grace mumbled, sounding kind of embarrassed

"Its okay, but was that the first time you've staked a vampire?" Buffy inquired curiously.

"No, but Mom used to get mad when I did, so I tried not to do it as much" she confessed, obviously still not used to the idea that her mom was a vampire.

"Well here we can look after you, train you, clothe you and" she opened the front door and saw Spike and Dawn in the spots they were when Willow left "Feed… you" she finished staring at all the food scattered across the coffee table and carpet. She looked at Spike who looked back at her, thinking that Willow would have explained it, then watched Buffy's face turn to anger.

"Dawn" she said through gritted teeth "What did you do?"


	8. Crazy Little Thing Called Love

**Thanks to everyone's who's reviewing, keep them coming! So chapter 8, enjoy!**

"I don't know Buffy, I'll think about it," Faith spoke into the phone. It had been two days since Buffy had brought Grace back to her house, and with Spike being human there was too much to worry about besides a new slayer. She'd spent the last half hour trying to convince Faith to take her and train her until things got a little less hectic. Grace had put up a bit of fight, insisting that she was an independent woman, until Buffy pointed out she was barely seventeen.

"Well think fast because I've got a lot going on back here!" Buffy urged sounding really distracted. Faith heard the front door close meaning Robin was back.

"I gotta go, later B," she said hanging up the phone before Buffy could say anything back. Faith walked around the kitchen hall to meet up with him. He noticed her quickly and smiled

"Hey baby, how was work?" she asked cuddling into his arms. This thing with Robin was different than any other guy she'd been with. It still felt weird being with someone for this amount of time, but it also felt nice.

"Another day at office I guess" he replied, Faith smiled again and they kissed. Then she frowned and Robin looked at her face for a moment, trying to guess what was wrong.

"Can I ask you a question?" Robin nodded as she bit her bottom lip.

"Buffy wants us to baby-sit this new slayer girl, Grace or whatever," she said trying to get a negative reaction out of him

"Well, sure I don't see why not" he shrugged and Faith groaned "What?" he questioned hanging his jacket up on the coat hanger.

"You don't mind another slayer being here?" she questioned, but it came out sounding more like an accusation.

"Do you?"

"Well you know, you don't exactly… forget it!" she stormed off into the kitchen and pulled out the orange juice carton. She started gulping it down, as her way of avoiding the topic; Robin followed her into the kitchen.

"You know you're gonna run out of things to drink sooner or later" he hinted as she stopped drinking for a moment "Yeah, but hey, I can eat a horse if I need to" she replied putting the drink back and trying to walk by him, He moved his stance blocking Faith from exiting.

"What are you worried about?" he questioned tilting er head up so they could meet each other's eyes.

"Well you kind of have a track record of dating slayers, and if we're going to be having one in the house then… you know," she rambled, but stopped when Robin raised his eyebrows.

"You think I'd leave you like that?" he asked, slightly offended, then he chuckled lightly.

"Its stupid, just forget it" she grumbled only to get pulled into a kiss, when their lips parted she stared at him intently "I'm sort of confused now" she admitted

"Faith is the only slayer for me, don't doubt that okay?" Faith grinned

"Whatever, but if you fall in love with her, I'm going to kick both your asses" she warned as he laughed "And that's why I love you" he smiled, not catching the sudden look of fear in her eyes, they kissed again as Faith closed the fridge with her hip. She liked him too, but she couldn't say it back.

"Keep your guard up at all times!" Buffy yelled as Grace got kicked in the stomach by a vampire. They went down to the cemetery, it had been two days since they found Grace and she needed to learn. Dawn had insisted on joining them so Willow was on Spike duty until Buffy got back. The vampire took another swing at Grace; she dodged and knocked him to the ground by taking out his feet.

"Oh good!" Dawn called from behind Buffy, not really wanting to get hurt. The vampire shifted his head towards Dawn seeing her as an easier target than Grace.

"Huh?" Dawn's eyes widened as the vamp jumped over a headstone and roared at Dawn and Buffy. Buffy gave Dawn her stake and walked away with her hands in the air.

"Buffy!" Dawn shrieked in terror, as the vampire got even closer to her.

"You asked to come, you have to slay too" Buffy yelled back as the vampire took hold of Dawns arm. Dawn tried to stake him but missed the heart, hitting the air around him instead. The stake fell to the ground and the vampire lowered its head to sink its teeth into her neck.

"Hey stupid!" Grace called from behind him; he turned just in time to see her smirking at him. She pulled a stake out from her jacket sleeve and dusted him "You looked" she finished as the last of him drifted away in the wind.

"You could have done that earlier" Dawn grumbled as she rubbed her almost punctured neck.

"Had to make sure he was distracted" Grace explained shrugging it off, she didn't really care much about Dawn. Buffy walked over to Grace with a huge grin on her face.

"Nice work!" she complemented while Dawn rolled her eyes, picked up her stake and walked away.

"Oh yeah, its only natural" Grace gloated and Buffy gave her a look which sent the two of them into a long but friendly argument. Dawn folded her arms across her chest and began patrolling on her own. She hated the amount of attention Grace was getting compared to her. She saw a tall black figure standing by a headstone. _Perfect_ she thoughts to herself, if she dusted this vampire maybe she could get a little recognition. Dawn pulled her stake out in a ready position and crept towards the vampire. She grabbed his shoulder and spun him around ready to stake his heart.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" the guy yelled fearfully, grabbing Dawns wrist before he got hurt.

"Nick!?" Dawn proclaimed, both surprised and happy to see him at the same time. She pulled her hair behind her ear and fished her brain for something to say.

"So, how come you're out here all alone, are you kind of axe murderer or what?" Dawn laughed awkwardly. Nick grinned, the moonlight making him look even eerier than usual. Dawn shivered, suddenly cold; Nick placed on of his hands on her shoulder and smiled. Her shoulder heated up instantly.

"You're cold," he stated as Dawn held her breath, the guy was making her feel crazy. Dawn pulled him down by the shirt into a kiss. She couldn't stop herself, and he didn't seem to mind that much either, the kiss was wild and passionate. When their lips parted Dawns eyes flew open in shock

"Wow…" she whispered while Nick watched her expression shift from dizzy to horrified 'I'm so sorry! You probably think I'm some kind of…" she searched for the words then groaned, "Oh God, I'm the pushy Queen of Sluttown… again!" Dawn cried as Nick raised an eyebrow, obviously amused.

"Dawn, its okay!" he assured her while laughing, "I didn't mind," he added with a sly smile. Dawn was lost for words, this past she'd caught herself falling under his charms more than once, but she'd never acted this crazy around him before.

"Dawn?" Buffy called sounding worried and angry, Dawn turned around and realized she was a fair distance from her sister.

"I'm over here!" she called back then went to say goodbye to Nick, but he was already gone. Buffy ran over to Dawn nothing but anger in her expression.

"Dawn, what the hell are you doing?' she yelled but got no response as he little sister just kept staring at trees, like something was there.

"Come on, you've got school tomorrow" Buffy sighed impatiently as the two walked away with Grace not far behind.

Giles was once again busy reading up about the spell so Jenny decided to call it a night. She curled up under the blankets; she'd missed being able to do that. She shut her eyes and soon enough darkness followed. Xander and Anya were asleep on Giles couch, Xander wanted to stay here until they found a way to restore Anya's memory. The peaceful moment was soon ruined by ear splitting screams from where Jenny was sleeping. Giles got up right away, letting the book fall to the ground; Xander and Anya woke up suddenly very aware and confused about what was happening. They ran into the room and Jenny was screaming and wriggling about under the blankets. Giles pulled the blankets off expecting to see a demon or something, but there was nothing.

"Jenny! Jenny answer me!" he yelled pulling her up by the shoulders, he shook her desperately trying to wake her up. She continued screaming, suddenly she started crying, and she was crying blood.

"Jenny, hear me!" he yelled again, this time getting through to her, her eye flew open and she looked so afraid, almost childlike. Giles held her, relieved that she was okay again.

"Angelus… oh God… help me Rupert" she whimpered.

"What did you see?" Giles asked rocking her in his arms.

"He… he killed me… I couldn't get away" she mumbled crying again, but normal tears. Giles let her go and walked out of the room and picked up a book from the table. Jenny followed him, too afraid too sleep now. Anya and Xander watching from the living room, the curiosity was almost killing them.

"Mind, spirit and dream" Giles mumbled as Jenny stood shaking behind him.

"What's that mean?" Jenny asked, her voice was croaky from all the screaming.

"The requirements… the spell can be translated two ways, and the requirements… oh Lord how did I miss this?" he wondered to himself.

"Requirements as in payment for bringing me back?" Jenny asked, Giles nodded.

"Anya's requirement was mind, that's why she cant remember anything of her past or her death… her mind is her memory" Giles explained, Anya just stared blankly at him as he went on "Spirit would have been Spikes demon counterpart, but because he had a soul, instead now he's just a regular human…" he said then looked over at Jenny. Who stilled had blood stains painted down her cheeks.

"And dream is your requirement" he finished shutting the book. Jenny raised an eyebrow.

"I don't think so, they pretty vivid so I don't think they took them away very well" she replied wincing a little at the memory, Angelus, running through the school, being thrown about like a rag doll… all of it.

"No, I think they're making you relive your death through your dreams… taking away any means of peace, that must be your price" Jenny slumped down on a chair in defeat. She was back, but now she wouldn't be able to sleep without seeing that? That hardly seemed a fair price. Giles stood up and pulled her into an embrace as she began sobbing in his arms.

_3 hours ago_

"_That's it?" Gretel screamed, annoyed with the female vampires choice of wish. _

"_If you're looking for mayhem then great so am I! So grant my freaking wish already!" the woman hissed. _

"_You know what Darla, fine" Gretel hissed back "But I hope this actually works, I don't do this job to see people happy" she reminded her as Darla rolled her eyes, her bruises and burn marks were much less severe now. _

"_Honey, happiness looks a lot different on this guy," she giggled as Gretel sneered then teleported out of the cave, leaving Darla laughing by herself. _


	9. Cookies, cream and Angelus

**Okay, as much as I'm glad to see a lot of people are reading this story, I'd really like those who bothered to read the whole thing to review a chapter, it would really help me speed up the process. But still, here we go, a delayed chapter 9! **

"Losing your powers?" Xander questioned, his tone soaked with impatience. Anya closed her eyes like someone had splashed lemon in them.

"Stop with your pointless questions! You've asked 13 already its plain to see I don't remember anything!" she yelled tugging at the fabric of her red jacket. The room fell silent to the point of it being awkward

"…You left me at an alter?" she asked angrily

"Well yeah but there were circumstances" he replied, guilty

"No wonder I don't remember anything! I probably don't want to!" before they could get more into their argument a cough was heard from the door. Giles was leaning on the doorframe watching them bicker

"I have to say you certainly do argue like a married couple," he stated smiling slightly as the irony

"An _almost _married couple" Anya grumbled "Apparently!" she added off Giles's look.

"What's with the tweed? You going out?" Xander asked eyeing the clothes; it looked a lot like the old Giles back in high school.

"Ah yes, to the ah… chemist, it seems Jenny may need some medical assistance to attaint any kind of peaceful sleep" he explained looking behind him to where the living room was.

"Still screaming?" Xander asked, lowering his voice. Giles nodded in a way that showed the fact it was killing her was killing him too.

"Do what you have to do" Xander said supportively, he didn't want Jenny to suffer either. Anya jumped forward and patted Giles's shoulder.

"You're a very nice old man!" she said, obviously her attempt at comforting him was a bit different than Xander's. He smiled for her efforts

"Thank you, Anya" Giles said kindly. Xander watched proudly, she was finally acting like Anya again. Giles then walked out of the room and let the two have their privacy. He gently opened the living room door to reveal Jenny sitting upright with an old blanket draped across her.

"How are you feeling?" Giles asked, not knowing what else to say in that situation. Jenny looked up at him through bloodshot eyes.

"Is he still…?" she began; her voice was rough from her lack of sleep.

"No, no the spell of restoration was successful" he answered and to that she seemed to relax a lot.

"That's good" she replied dreamily, staring at the black and white movie on the television.

"I have to step out… Xander and Anya are here just in case"

"Rupert" she sighed though her breathing was rough "I don't need to be cared for I'm fine, I just need some space" Giles nodded understanding what she meant completely. Silence soon filled the room

"How's Buffy?" she questioned curiously

"Oh? Yes she's well, in fact she's ah" he laughed "As she put it, she's taking Spike out today to 'soak up some sun' which should be interesting" he laughed remembering Buffy's excited talk about today. Jenny laughed too, she still found it so odd that Spike was fighting the good fight now.

"That should be nice," she mumbled while zoning out to the television again.

"Lets go, come on!" Buffy called impatiently through the other side of her bedroom door, human Spike really enjoyed his sleep ins. The door flew open revealing Spike in his same old black duster, Buffy just rolled her eyes.

"You wont need that" she informed him as he gave her a weird look.

"Why the bloody hell not?" he asked and Buffy took his hand and walked to the front door. They locked eyes for a small second then Buffy pushed the door open. Spike instinctively put his arm up to block the sun from any exposed skin. Buffy was quicker. She grabbed his arm and pulled it back down to his side, letting his skin bathe in the light. The look in his eyes was reward enough for Buffy. She smiled sweetly as he carefully walked further out into the sun. He chuckled then spread his arms apart in sheer joy, grinning madly he turned around to look at Buffy.

"No flames!" he laughed holding his hand out, she shut the front door and took it. Without even looking away from the sky he held his arms around her waist.

"No smoke" Buffy added placing his hand over her heart "Just the beat" she whispered as he pulled her into a passion filled kiss.

"A fella could get used to this" he said as their lips parted, he moved his hand and began combing through her hair. Another kiss.

"Lets go! There's something you have to do now!" she took his hand in hers and they began walking. Thirty minutes later he and Buffy were walking down the main streets of Cleveland. Every now and then he would jump onto the road just to be in the sun again. Each time Buffy would laugh and then pull him off a road before a car hit him.

"Okay here" Buffy said finally still holding his hand. Spike raised an eyebrow at the shop Buffy had stopped in front of.

"An ice cream bar?" he questioned like he thought she might just be playing a trick on him

"Exclusive, humans only" she hinted out, she knew he was going to love this; what human didn't?

"Pet, I think we're both a bit too old for this" he stated watching all the kids with chocolate ice cream dripping down their faces.

"Ice cream doesn't have an age limit!" she insisted, pointing to another couple sitting down with their cones. He nodded in defeat, then grabbed a table while Buffy purchased the food. A minute later and she turned up with two cones, one pink and one with small brown flecks. He tilted his head to the side trying to figure out something.

"I thought ice cream was white?" he wondered and to that Buffy simply rolled her eyes.

"Its cookies and cream, try it, you'll love it. One hundred percent Buffy guarantee!" she promised handing him his cone.

"Cookies and cream? Love you said we were getting ice cream not bloody biscuits" he pointed out then off her look he bit into the ice cream.

"Bloody hell!" he yelled as several bystanders stared at them in shock. Buffy's face fell into one of disappointment

"You don't like it?" she sounded confused by the notion.

"Its bloody fantastic!" he laughed as Buffy gave him a huge grin and they both burst out into laughter. Buffy was happier than she'd been in a long time. The two of them kept laughing and walking until the sun started to set, then Spike insisted on going home.

Kennedy had gone out to watch a basketball game, she had gone alone, and she knew Willow wasn't big on sports. Since Dawn was on the phone to a friend who she'd refuse to admit the name of, Willow had very little to do. She got up off the couch and walked towards the front door, she pulled her purple jacket from the coat hanger and put it on.

"Dawnie? I'm going out for a little bit okay?" she called extra loud, just in case Dawn couldn't hear.

"Okay!" she replied sounding preoccupied. Willow sighed and went back to where she had set up her spell. She pulled out a few things from her jacket pockets she picked up from Grace's magic shop, she left money on the counter so that no one would know what she was doing. She didn't know why but she'd rather keep this a secret. She set up her spell, ready to renew it and talk to Tara again. She closed her eyes and let the magicks do their thing. Then she felt that familiar sense of both absolute safety and absolute power.

"Willow?" Tara's birdlike voice echoed through her head.

"Tara! Tara its me!" she replied smiling warmly

"Sweetie, is everything okay?" she asked, genuinely worried

"Things are starting to get hellmouthy again, but I think that's what you were talking about!" she spoke, feeling the tears build up in her eyes

"You m…mean the requirements?" she seemed surprised by something

"Yes! Anya's memory, Jenny's dreams, Spikes humanity, all of it!" she answered while cherishing every moment she got to spend with Tara.

"No matter what you have to fight baby, you know what to do" she replied reassuringly

"I don't! I really don't! What kind of goddess am I?" she cried, ashamed of her failure.

"Oh honey, if you need an answer try," before she could finish, a female's body fell from the tree in from of Willow. It landed face first, breaking her spell and crushing most of the ingredients. Willow looked at the back, the clothes had been shredded and she looked like she's been ripped up from the inside.

"Following the yellow brick road" a very familiar voice spoke from the tree in front of Willow. She looked up to see Angel smiling down at her from one of the lower branches.

"Angel? Did you see who…" she stopped herself seeing the blood that soaked his hands and lips. She took a breath and she felt the fear creeping up on her.

"Angelus" she muttered knowing he would have heard her anyway. He laughed and then jumped down next to the body and just meters away from Willow. He made a look of fake shock

"Golly, I wonder who I…" he stared talking then knelt down and violently flipped the dead body over so Willow could see the face. Willow held back a scream of terror as she saw Kennedy's lifeless face with a deep, fresh cross cut into the flesh. He took advantage of her moment of shock and jumped forward punching her hard in the jaw. She fell to ground with a loud _thud_

"That's right baby" he grinned even wider "I'm back!"


	10. Fear

**Subtle hint – reviews speed up the process! Now that I've said that, on with chapter 10. By the way now that I have seen the rest of Angel I would like to point out that in my story Darla came back through Wolfram and Hart but she didn't stay with them. Also a big thank you to my constant reviewers, you know who you are and I love you all! **

"Angelus… Angel how did you?" Willow questioned backing away slightly, she didn't have any stakes on her and she wasn't prepared to fight _this_ vampire.

"Don't know and I pretty much don't care, I'm too immortal to wear worry lines," he said not bothering to move closer to Willow. She looked around herself frantically calculating her options

"By the way, I never did thank you for giving me a soul before" he said shrugging while he kicked Kennedy from his path like a twig. Willow winced, holding in the pain and focusing on getting out of here alive. She clenched her fists and willed several large glass shards to rise from where her spell had been crushed. She aimed it carefully and quickly then like darts it tore through his clothes and skin, causing him more than minimum pain. He turned his head so he could see the damage, just as Willow knew he would. She turned and ran towards a large gravestone that was shaped as a giant cross. She scrambled on top of it, feeling Angel not far behind her.

"I love it when they run" he proclaimed then stopped in his tracks when he saw the headstone. He laughed manically but kept his distance.

"I was thinking dinner and a show" her offered while watching the blood from Willows face drain away "But then again, I just ate" they both looked at Kennedy's shredded body.

"I guess we'll have to go right to the show" he laughed then turned away "Wear something nice, I don't wanna spill blood over something tacky" he waved her goodnight as he disappeared into the night. Frozen with fear, Willow stayed on top of the cross, just watching Kennedy's body, she wouldn't will herself to cry. She pulled the cell phone that Buffy had given her from her pocket with shaking fingers. She pressed the speed dial for Buffy.

"Willow" Buffy answered after the third ring, obviously outside as Willow could hear cars.

"Buffy get home, make sure everyone's inside," she ordered, not enough feeling left in her to even add a 'please'.

"Huh? Why? Willow what's going on? Where are you?" Buffy questioned, she didn't know that Willow had left the house.

"Its Angel" she replied in a dread soaked whisper. Buffy panicked looking over at Spike to show him something was up.

"What happened?" she asked fearfully, thinking he got staked or something.

"He got Kennedy, he's back Buffy" she choked out knowing he was probably listening to her right now anyway. There was a minute of silence as Buffy waited for her mind to start functioning again.

"Willow, where are you?" she spoke suddenly serious

"The graveyard…"

"Stay where you are, we're coming to get you" Buffy hung up the phone first. Willow looked once more at the body of her girlfriend and held back the vomit swishing about in her throat and repressed the dark power she could feel tingling in every inch of her being.

_7 hours later_

All the scoobies including Jenny, Faith and Robin were gathered in the Summers apartment home and no one spoke a word. Buffy was plagued with pictures of Angelus from so long ago and Spike could only hold her in comfort. Jenny was on the verge of tears both from lack of sleep and the fact that the monster that starred in her nightmares was back and had not lost his sense of humor. Willow and Dawn sat by the couch leaning into each other just to feel that tiny bit safer. Xander was still in shock and was at a loss for words, Anya however just looked at their faces, unable to share their fear because she didn't remember Angel.

"What's going to happen?" she inquired, piercing the silence. Xander took a while to answer her.

"I don't know… that's really up to Buffy" he replied as Robin decided to have his input

"If he's a vampire then we should just" he stopped talking as he took in Faith and Buffy's matching expressions. Faith's was concerned with only the slightest hint of fear, whereas Buffy's was full of anger. She hated his way of thinking, it was so black and white and he couldn't seem to grasp the fact that not all vampires were evil.

"Its not simple" Buffy mumbled, not seeing Spikes look of hurt

"Yeah he's still Angel underneath" Faith explained, she too hated the fact that Robin had no care for Angel no matter what form he was in.

"Uh…this may not be a good time but" Grace appeared from the kitchen, she'd gone to check for snacks, while the scoobies had their moment of silence.

"Those seeing eye folks you go on about sometimes? They saw something," she informed then, wording it carefully as she could. Buffy leapt from Spikes grasp

"About Angel?" she asked loudly. Grace shook her head

"About Darla" she corrected, then Spike jumped from the couch in shock, last he had heard Darla was just dust in the wind.

"Darla?" his voice rose, thinking that it must be a mistake

"They said she's in Sydney, they also said that a week from now, so next Tuesday, she's having a pig out at a kindergarten" Grace warned not fully understanding just how bad this was.

"Okay…okay first thing first, we gotta save Angel right?" Dawn spoke up, hoping she could finally help out

"Willow!" Xander suddenly proclaimed "Can't you just whip up a restoration spell, badda bing badda boom, no more Angelus?" he suggested, Willow snapped out of her trance.

"Oh yeah, I'll need an orb of Thesulah" she replied still coming back down into reality "Do you have those?" she asked looking over at Grace

"No we have to order those in, it could take up to two weeks" she replied fidgeting with the hem of her plain black shirt

"That's fine, we just have to keep him bust until… next… Tuesday" Willow shut her mouth after realizing what she just said

"If you want, I have a suggestion" Jenny spoke up clenching her fists so hard they were shaking. She didn't want the pain anymore. She stared at the gang through determined bloodshot eyes.

Grace put her ipod up as loud as it could go and continued patrolling. Buffy and Faith were taking the cemeteries and Grace was covering the town. She insisted on going out despite Buffy's arguments; the sudden tension had left her feeling empty, she needed a good dusting. The song changed to her favourite song _never wanted to dance – mindless self indulgence. _While walking down an alleyway not far from her shop unable to help herself, she began to dance to the music. Just as it reached the chorus she threw her hands in the air and spun around while throwing her hair around madly.

"Well don't you look spiffy" Angel spoke from behind her yanking out her headphones. He held them away from him like it were a disease

"Are you deaf?" he questioned as he morphed into game face "Are you scared?" he taunted picking her up like a rag doll and tossing her at a brick wall. She groaned as she pulled herself from the damp asphalt beneath her.

"That kinda hurt" she laughed, cracking her back "Oh and no I'm scared Mr.… what should I call you?" she asked ignoring the throbbing in her back

"Names Angel" he said leaning against the opposite wall, examining his fingernails.

"As in Angelus?" Grace guessed, holding up her fists to show she was ready for him.

"As in you're going to die little girl," he replied jumping into the air and landing behind Grace, he put his hand around her neck. She threw a fist backwards for his face but he dodged it by centimeters, he then picked her up and threw her to the floor again.

"You know, you're not great at making friends" Grace quipped while regaining her balance, Angelus walked towards her, Grace was more worried about her ipod now

"That's cruel. I make friends well" he smirked then dropped her ipod to the ground and crushed it under his foot "I'm a people person" he added darkly then went to hit Grace. Grace stopped his fist without even looking away from her now broken ipod.

"_SON OF A BITCH!" _she screamed, she was beyond anger now "_DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH THAT COST?" _she hissed while using her other hand to crush the bones in his. He threw a kick for her face and succeeded this time. She fell backwards into a door of some abandoned hotel. Catching her stance while he walked through the door.

"I think I'm going to kill you twice as hard now" he promised lunging forward but burying his fist in a wall.

"You get to try" Grace called from the staircase. She climbed at least four floors until she stopped and ran into one of the rooms. Angelus walked up the stairs following her bloods scent; this was just a funny game to him. As he ascended the stairs he began to whistle then he began to sing, his voice was dark and haunting. Grace listened while holding her breath.

"If you go out to the woods today you better go in disguise…" he sang as he kicked open a door, but walked away but walked away when she wasn't in there.

"Cause tonight's the night the teddy bears have their picnic" he finished as he kicked open the door where Grace was hiding. As the door burst from its hinges Angel seemed to listen for a scream or a gasp to reveal where was hiding. He got nothing so he walked out the middle of the room and relied on his sense of smell to do the job. Grace silently descended from the ceiling and landing on the balls of her feet making only a thudding noise, Angel turned around with deliberate slowness.

"Now that was a silly thing to do" he lectured with a grin "Now I'm really hungry" he complained as Grace pulled out from behind her back, a large metal pole she'd ripped from the stairwell as a makeshift weapon, since she'd dropped her stake outside. Before Angel had time to react she hit him as hard as possible over the head, he fell to the ground for a moment. Before he got back up he put a hand on his head then looked at his own blood soaking his hands. He stood up and started backing to the window for an escape route; he knew when he was losing.

"Can't let you do that Angel" Grace warned as he checked the ground to see how painful the landing would be. Suddenly Grace rushed forward and placed the pole onto his neck then pushed him out the window with herself not far behind. She fell for what felt like only a millisecond until shards of glass started raining down on them. Grace pulled herself upright and looked over at Angelus trying to get up. She stumbled over, the bottoms of her feet aching like mad from a painful landing. She thrust he thick black boot into his stomach while he was still only halfway up, he fell down again this time his body lay limp and unconscious. Grace wiped sweat and blood from her face before she looked over at a fence not 10 meters away that was sporting a chain and a chunky lock.

"Score" she muttered limping over to them, wincing each time her feet hit the ground. She then yanked the chain from the fence.

"Ah!" she shrieked as she fell back onto her left foot for some extra balance. She wrapped the chains tightly around Angel's hands and tightened the lock around it too. Once the chains were secure she picked up her stair pole and gave his head one last hit before she let it fall to the ground

"That's for the ipod, asswipe"


	11. Where it Hurts

Grace crashed through the door to the Summer's apartment. Buffy and Spike jumped from the couch from a previously intimate moment.

"I thought you were patrolling?" Buffy questioned pulling her shirt down a little. Spike looked around the room acting like nothing had happened.

"I was, bird took the worm" she replied ignoring the fact she'd just cut into an 'alone moment' between the two "worm kicked birdies ass" she added proudly. Buffy then noticed what she'd dragged in behind her.

"Angel!" she exclaimed, her voice filled when emotion, Spike noticed the change in her voice and sat back down on the couch again.

"So you caught the mighty prancing poof, what do we do when the old boy wakes up hm?" he pointed out and they both fell silent. Willow stepped out from the guest room where she, Giles, Jenny Xander and Anya were staying until the streets were safe again. Besides Buffy didn't want to lose anyone to Angelus again.

"I know a spell," she murmured looking at the face of her lover's murderer, pushing away her own murderous feelings while she was at it. Before long they had Angelus trapped within a cage made entirely of fire, when he came to he frowned.

"Oh now this is just harsh" he spoke to himself when he tried to see past the flames he only saw Willow, who was frowning back at him.

"You're awake…" she noted, knowing the others were upstairs, she'd requested to be alone in the basement so she could talk to Angel.

"You look like you could use a hug," he laughed holding his hands out but keeping a safe distance from the fire "nice cage by the way" he said, trying to taunt her.

"Gee thanks. I made it special, vampires can't touch it, but I can" she said placing her hand in the flame to prove it.

"Gosh I feel very loved" he eyed her darkly; he could practically smell the darkness trying to overtake her.

"Well good, I was so hoping that after killing my girlfriend you'd be feeling good!" she snapped, he grinned as her eyes became black as night and her face seemed to pale.

"Oh no… I woke up the big bad witch" he chuckled as Willows rage caused the flames of the cage to grow larger and leaning very little room for Angelus to move

"Whoa, mamma left the stove on!" he remarked, catching the look of vengeance and bloodlust in her eyes.

"Shut up, swine!" she yelled using her sudden volt of power to lock the door, she did not want to be interrupted. Angel seemed to get that he was in danger; he just didn't seem to care.

"Good to see you can be evil too" he commented, holding in the laugh from Buffy trying to kick open a door that was being held shut by Willows power "by the way, since when were you dating girls" he tilted his head to the side like Angel wouldn't have known.

"Since when did you start killing my girls?" she retorted, the flames turned blue. He grinned _so then the rumors of dark Willow were true after all_ he thought to himself. Then he noticed something wasn't quite right

"I thought you got black hair too?" he inquired; her expression was harder than stone and colder than ice.

"I'm not evil" she replied bluntly "I'm just pissed" she corrected him as the flames returned to their original orange colour.

"You do know this isn't the worst thing that's going to happen to you," he pointed out like he wasn't the bad guy in this situation.

"Yeah" she said, still maintaining her hold on the door "and its not as bad as some other things that have happened to me" she added, thinking back to her last moments with Tara "but you still killed Kennedy and the pain still hurts like hell" she hissed. She then turned to face the wall where the stood a single red bucket. She began chanting and Angel just watched in confusion.

"You killed her with your bare hands" Willow whispered, he voice was heavy with grief.

"That and an axe I stole from a shop downtown" he smirked "its not as fun with only your hands to work with" he spoke as if he were giving a lecture "I've been told weapons are more creative anyway" he laughed. Willow finished chanting, she floated half the contents she'd conjured from the bucket and let it float through the cage bars. The liquid fell onto his hands and started burning away at his flesh. Willow watched for about thirty seconds before using her magicks to put the holy water back into the bucket.

"Now your hands wont hurt anyone else," she growled, her eyes stared flashing back and forth between black and her usual hazel colour

"It'll heal" he assured her, his words had a double meaning that Willow seemed to overlook. She reverted back to normal Willow and then fell to her knees in exhaustion.

"Then I'll be there to…" she reached out for the stairs for something to support her "make sure…" she was breathing heavier as the seconds ticked by "that you don't" she collapsed and the door flew open, Buffy and Spike in the front followed by the rest of the scoobies, Jenny stuck to the back.

"Oh God, Willow!" Buffy screamed, she and Xander ran over to her body to check for signs of life.

"Houston, we have a pulse" he informed the group while holding tightly onto Willow's wrist. Buffy jumped to her feet, her fear completely overwritten by her brand new anger. Angel looked at her in amusement.

"Hello lover, what's got you down?" he asked looking at her approaching figure with a grin on his lips.

"How'd you do it this time?" she questioned falling into the role of bad-cop in a matter of seconds.

"Care to elaborate?" he asked, Buffy signaled for everyone to leave, they all left the room except for Spike.

"Spike, its okay I wont be long" she assured him. Spike shook his head

"I'm not leaving you alone with this ponce" he replied stubbornly

"Spike please" she smiled warmly, he waited for a moment before going upstairs and slamming the door.

"How'd you lose your soul Angel?" Buffy inquired angrily. Angel moved his eyes around as if searching for an answer.

"Don't know" he answered bluntly. Buffy rolled her eyes at him

"Drop the act" she warned him as she stepped closer to the cage. The flames were hardly there anymore but Angel kept his distance regardless.

"Really Buffy, I'm telling you the truth" he said putting on his most innocent face "but I do know one thing…" he lowered his voice to a whisper and motioned for her to come closer. Carefully she walked even closer to the cage, slipped her hand into her jean pocket. Angel closed the distance between them and leaned forward as if to whisper something in her ear. Without warning he lunged forward and pulled her towards him by her throat. He kept his arm just above the flames but tightly around Buffy's neck.

"Now, be a good girl and let me out of here" he demanded, his ash-like breath making her even more uncomfortable. With her back to him she knew that if she were to attack him she'd have to be quick and accurate. From her pocket she pulled out a mace bottle, which Dawn had suggested they fill with Holy Water as a quick weapon. She flicked her wrist and sprayed frantically until she heard his screams of pain. He let her go and she fell forward, thankful for the fresh air.

"I'm going to get your soul back" she promised while running up the stairs with her hand to her throat

"Yeah" he scoffed, remembering what had happened the last time the scoobies tried to do that "wont that be fun"

Hours passed and still no one dared to go down and check on Angel. Willow was still fast asleep, gaining her energy again and Jenny was distracting herself from the horror by reading cookbooks. When a knock sounded from the door everyone jumped in unison. Dawn ran to open it. She threw the door open and expected to see Faith, Robin and Grace but instead saw someone she hadn't thought would use the front door.

"Nick!" she jumped on him and pulled him into a cozy embrace

"Good to see you" his voice was pleasant and smooth. Dawn grinned then blushed when she realized everyone was watching her.

"Dawn, who's this?" Buffy's voice was thick with accusations and she saw no reason to trust him.

"Hi, I'm Nick, it's nice to meet you" he greeted with a kindly smile. Buffy glared him down. Dawn quickly jumped in before Buffy said something rude.

"We've been seeing each other, we're going out tonight" she explained

"What!" Buffy exclaimed, annoyed that Dawn hadn't told her about this before "Dawn this is so not the time!"

"Why not? It's my life!" she countered reverting back to her whiney voice from so long ago.

"No, you're staying here" Buffy commanded channeling her mother for the courage to say that. Giles watched proudly as Buffy stood up to Dawn. Dawn frowned, aware she was losing, then held onto Nicks arm

"You're not mom" she reminded her as she slammed the door. She then ran off with Nick then drove away quickly in his car. Buffy gaped at the door, then Anya decided to speak up.

"That was odd" she stated as the phone rang, Buffy stomped angrily to the phone. Xander wondered absently why Spike wasn't here to calm her down. While Buffy was on the phone Xander waited until everyone wasn't paying attention then slipped down to the basement. He had something he needed to say to Angelus.

"Hey killer" he greeted Angel as he descended the stairs. He knew exactly what to say and he'd wanted to say it since high school.

"Oh look, its Buffy's white knight, all dressed up with nowhere to go" Angel retorted with an age-old smirk playing on his lips.

"I've got some things to say to you pal" he pointed his finger at him "so shut up" he yelled forcefully.

"What a coincidence! I wanted to talk to you too!" Angel smiled as if talking to a friend he hadn't seen in years.

"Yeah, about what?" he growled back leaning against the brick wall.

"It must just eat you up inside that even though you two are so close, she still cares about me more than you" he said watching the flicker of sadness in Xander's eyes "I mean if it were you in this cage she wouldn't be half as worked up as she is over me" he finished and Xander just smiled and chuckled.

"You're surprisingly confident for someone trapped in a cage made of fire" he commented scornfully. Angel shrugged casually.

"Well, you know me" he replied with boredom in his tone.

"No actually I do" Xander said then as Angel raised an eyebrow at him in disbelief "You're a sick and twisted animal who doesn't give a rats ass about anyone else, and yeah Buffy has a problem with hurting you because her former boyfriend is in there somewhere, but you know what?" he asked, not expecting an answer "no one else up there has any problem with shoving a nice thick piece of wood through your sick and twisted heart" he finished then walked back upstairs when he heard Buffy calling out for him.

"Gee, I'm glad you feel comfortable enough to open up to me" Angel said sarcastically as Xander gave him his best death stare then went back upstairs.

"We need to leave now if we want any kind of head start on Darla" Buffy said after explaining what the seer had just told her.

"Can we all get a flight at this late notice?" Giles asked, then noticed Jenny's look of discomfort. She preferred being in the same house as Angel knowing he was trapped than going away and not knowing what was happening at all.

"I've got tickets for all of you, but Giles you and Ms… Jenny are staying here" Willow informed them, still slightly dizzy from her sudden use of magick.

"What? But against Darla you'll need all the help you can…" he stopped himself.

"Sorry Watcher, but three slayers should do the job" Faith said walking through the door with Robin and Grace "besides you're needed here anyway" she added then slammed the door.

"To keep Angelus in check?" Giles questioned but Buffy shook her head

"More like to keep Dawn in check" she corrected

"I'm on vampire-duty" Willow explained

"Well why do I have to look after Da…" he paused again "Ah well I guess this means we'll have some quality time then" he smiled, trying to hide the grimace.

"We'll be back in at least a week Giles" she reassured him. She knew Dawn could be a serious handful, especially now she was running off with that Nick guy. The door flew open again revealing Spike who was cleaning off a very sharp knife covered in blue demon goo.

"What do we know?" Buffy asked right away

"Slime demons are just as disgusting as they sound, and thanks pet I'm just fine" he added then held out a piece of paper "and we have news" Grace snatched the paper from him. Her eyes flew wide and she suddenly looked like she wanted to throw up.

"That's not a very claming expression, what's going on?" Anya asked taking in Grace's pale features. Xander leaned over Grace and took the paper so he could see what was going on too.

"Oh God…" he swallowed "we should hurry" he too looking sickly pale now

"We'll be too late anyway" Spike pointed out as Buffy impatiently took the paper then noticed it was the printed version of an Australian newspaper, and it was the front-page news.

"No way…" she whispered meeting Spikes look of horror with her own.

_16 hours ago – Sydney. Australia _

"_Under the desk, now!" the red haired girl screamed as the younger brown haired girl crawled under a desk. An insane laugh came from the doorway that Darla stepped through wearing a white blood stained dress. _

"_And I thought this was going to be easy!" she cackled licking fresh blood from around her mouth. Suddenly a small army of newly made vampires stood behind her. The red haired girl looked conflicted as she rose up her favourite longbow and took aim _

"_Oh my, careful with that!" Darla laughed again_

"_Not another step!" the girl warned then released her first arrow, it pinned down and dusted three of the army of small vampires. _

"_Do you know what I love most about this place?" she questioned playing with the curtain chord. _

"_It's the view, you can see the bridge and everything!" she giggled and then shut the curtains as if that would make this killing a secret. _

"_Shh, its nap time kiddies" she warned with a deadly smile on lips. She morphed into a vampire face and lunged forward, directly for the red haired one. _


	12. Secrets

Flight 449 was safely in the air and all the scoobies were in their seats. Xander and Anya sat towards the front of the plane next to man intently reading a romance novel of some kind. Faith, Robin and Grace sat a few rows behind them. Robin was listening to the radio and Faith and Grace were discussing bands. Buffy and Spike were stuck in the back of the plane on two seats next to a window. Xander and Anya were looking through a book about Sydney when the man next to them received a bag of peanuts from the airhostess. Anya glanced at the peanuts then at Xander with pleading eyes

"I want some peanuts" she stated, finding she had to speak louder in an airplane "go get me some" she ordered taking the Sydney brochure from him and smiling innocently. Xander snatched it back

"No. If you want some press the button Ahn, its how society works" he replied, seeming slightly uncomfortable for some reason "you want something then you ask for it" he explained. Anya angrily mashed the button down. Moments later a small brunette woman was asking what the problem was.

"I wanted some peanuts," she proclaimed grumpily

"Ah okay… salted?" she guessed then looked over at her food trolley

"Yes" Anya replied with a triumphant grin, the woman gave her the peanuts with a polite 'Enjoy' comment

"Yes, I'm sure I will, please leave" she smiled up at the lady who then looked at Xander with a worried expression.

"Is he okay?" she questioned worriedly

"Oh, he doesn't travel well" she informed her as she raised an eyebrow at him, and then gave him an understanding smile. She'd seen plenty of people who couldn't handle traveling this way.

"I'm fine thanks" Xander managed to say in one breath. She smiled again, this time a little bit too friendly.

"Well if you feel worse or if you need anything, I'll be down there," she pointed a slender finger down the front of the plane. Xander smiled politely as she pulled her trolley away to see the other passengers.

"What's the matter?" Xander asked looking at Anya's pouting expression, he moved his eye patch down a little.

"Nothing I just don't like the service" she grumbled

"Why not, you got your peanuts," he pointed out and she sighed in annoyance, Xander dropped the subject. An uneasy silence passed before Anya spoke up again

"Open these" she demanded throwing the packet onto his lap.

"No way, Nirvana is better than that, hands down," Faith, argued

"They're good, but they're not Hendrix good" Grace replied, intent on getting her point across

"I didn't say Hendrix was bad!" Faith pointed out, wriggling in her seat. She wouldn't admit it but planes really unsettled her. It was too annoying being confined to one tiny chair for such a long time while someone else flew you to God-knows-where

"I didn't say you said that!" Grace said defensively. Robin took off his headphones and looked at them both with an amazed expression.

"You're still having that debate?" he questioned in awe. It had been a whole hour since take off.

"Yes!" they replied in unison. Suddenly the airplane television began a new program and they all fell silent and commenced watching it. It was sort of a documentary about Sydney but made solely for that airline. It went through various landmarks in Sydney and Faiths eyes lit up when the bridge was shown,

"Wicked!" she proclaimed when it showed people climbing up it

"That would be so awesome!" Grace agreed, knowing they would be there during the summer was an added bonus.

"Want me to take you?" Robin asked Faith

"Oh hell yeah" she grinned, looked over at Grace, then back to Robin "why don't we go with everyone?" she suggested. She was growing attached to Grace; they had an almost sisterly bond.

"Of course" he smiled warmly at her, nothing but compassion in his eyes.

"You're the best" she praised him then leaned forward for a kiss.

"Oh come on you guys! Save it for… whenever we have a place to stay" she rolled her eyes mockingly.

"God, how long do these stupid things take?" Buffy complained angrily. The trip was so far awkward as Spike didn't seem interested in talking with her. Spike shrugged, he'd never caught a plane before due to extreme sun exposure, he hadn't even noticed the time that had gone by.

"What's up?" Buffy questioned, a little sick of getting the silent treatment from her own boyfriend.

"I'm fine love" he replied, not bothering to put emotion behind it

"If its what I think then you don't need to be all cold shoulder-y, I'm worried too" she grabbed his hand, but he didn't hold hers back

"Yeah?" he raised an eyebrow, had she finally understood what was bothering him so much?

"Willows taking it hard, and she has gone evil once before" Buffy said as Spike internally groaned at how wrong she was

"Reds fine, she's got your watcher and the bit looking after her," he pointed out, wishing she would wake up and smell the jealousy

"Then if you're not worried about that then what's with the mega-mopery?" she inquired innocently. Spike took a breath; something he'd been enjoying lately, breathing was such an underrated pleasure.

"Its just, what with captain forehead making a guest spot and all…" he began picking his words carefully

"You've gotta be kidding me!" she laughed, "God are you _both _twelve years old or something?" she joked

"You just have this look when" Buffy put up a hand to stop him

"That's called concern Mr. Observant, don't read into so much" she soothed him with a half smile "besides" she added shortly after "I'm not with him, I'm with you" she reassured him

"When you say with…" he began jokingly at first then remembered something he'd wanted to know recently "Do you love me?" he asked suddenly completely serious. He waited a moment while they stared at each other

"Yes" she admitted then leaned over to kiss him, they lost themselves in the moment. Spike, elated with the confirmation deepened the kiss until they were both out of breath

"I never had to worry about that when I was a vampire" he chuckled

"Welcome to the mortal coil" she breathed as their lips met once again

"I didn't give her a look!" Xander insisted as the gang walked off the plane into Sydney airport. The view was breathtaking, the bridge, the water, the whole city seemed so surreal from so high above it.

"You did, she gave you a look then you gave her a look, like I wasn't even there!" she complained

"Ahn, I was being polite. You're being paranoid" he replied

"See you joke about my pain, I'm nothing to you!" she whined

"Anya! You're not nothing!" Xander was surprised how much like the old Anya she was becoming already.

"Oh" his tone stopped her talking, it was surprising how forceful he could be, and it left her with a sense of déjà vu "Okay then, I stopped that nonsense just in time" she grinned and held onto Xanders hand for comfort

"Is it me or has everyone gotten more couple-y all of the sudden?" Buffy wondered as she too was linking arms with Spike.

"Not just you, love" he replied with a small grin on his face "even the physco-slayer's getting' some" he joked as Faith hit him over the head with her leather carry-on bag

"I heard that" she stated "and I'm not physco… anymore" she corrected herself, she could admit now that she had once totally gone over the edge.

"But you have a point…weird, must be post-panic behavior" Robin guessed. Unlike the rest of them he wasn't walking side by side with the one he loved. He was carrying his bag and Graces, which seemed to be packed full.

"Except for Grace" Faith added, feeling a bit of sympathy for the girl

"I wonder if she ever had a special somebody in her life?" Buffy thought out loud

"Love?" Spike called for Buffy's attention

"What?" she asked, still chipper from the flight

"Where is the bird?" he asked. The group began wondering whether she'd gotten off the plane properly or not…

"Fuck… okay, me and Rob'll go check out the plane, B, you and Spike go give the food court a once over okay?" Faith instructed, and then turned to Xander and Anya "check out the other places" she ordered

"Other places?" Xander questioned

"The toilets and stuff like that" she explained

"Lets go" Anya suggested enthusiastically, visibly excited about being on a search team with Xander. Faith and Robin walked back onto the plane and went back to their seats, only to find the whole plane was empty.

"Excuse me?" the same hostess that had been talking to Xander was watching them suspiciously

"You're excused" Faith replied rudely, the woman was taken back by the comment

"Sorry about that" Robin looked the woman in the eyes "What's your name?" he asked kindly, she blushed a little

"Amber…" she answered shyly as Faith crept away so she could continue searching for Grace. As she reached the front of the plane she overheard the pilot speaking into his walkie-talkie

"What do you mean you can't get into the cargo hold?" he sounded annoyed. Faith listened harder to hear the other man talking

"I mean someone's holding the door shut from the inside sir" the voice sounded both pissed off and afraid. Faith decided to go check it out, chances were that Grace would be there anyway. She went back down the stairs of the plane and looked over to where the cargo hold was. Three grown men were trying to lift up the door and they were obviously struggling. Faith walked up casually and put one hand on the door and lifted it up easily.

The cargo hold was bigger than expected and Faith walked in with her guard up. It was pitch dark so her best guess was vampires.

"Hey? Someone in here?" she called out. Then men at the door seemed too afraid to walk in there with her. Grace appeared from around the corner of some bags out of breath and Faith gasped, thinking it was something else

"Grace? What are you doing back here? She inquired

"Snooping" she replied, Faith could have sworn there was something else back there but they walked out of the cargo hold regardless.

"And you found?" Faith tried to coax it out of her

"The address the seers didn't see" she replied holding out a slip of paper that was ripped on the edges.

"You found that just lying about with the luggage?" she raised he eyebrows to show it wasn't exactly the best story she'd ever heard

"Not exactly, does it matter?" she replied, Faith shrugged then looked at the paper

"Oh crap" she almost yelled "a kindergarten?" That's where Darla's holding her massacre?" she couldn't wrap her head around it

"We need to go there now!" she warned, "I think the seers didn't get the date right" Grace demanded. Faith took one look at the fear on her face and knew the danger was worse than what she thought it was. They ran back to the airport to round up the gang, went through customs in record time and took the biggest taxi they could find to the kindergarten.

The silence was otherworldly and the atmosphere was just as heavy, and that was just the feeling from the entrance hall. Police tape was blocking off almost all the doors, like streamers left over from a party. According to locals and the taxi driver they had talked to on the way the massacre had happened two days ago already.

"There's no way she's still here right?" Faith wondered fearfully. She'd never met Darla, but from what she'd heard, she didn't want to meet Darla.

"So how about we ring up the seers and let them know it all happened?" Xander suggested, wishing he could get out of here.

"Sure, right after we look for clues" Buffy said looking at the blood stained walls, she must've gotten the ones that tried to run as well.

"Clues? Shouldn't we go ask the cops?" Robin suggested

"And spend the rest of our lives in wacky fun straight jackets?" Xander replied mockingly

"How about the door with sodding arrows in it?" Spike pointed to the blue door down an even longer hallway

"Blue door it is then" Faith agreed as she and Buffy kicked the door open. A red haired girl wearing a blue and green shirt and a pair of baggy blue jeans shrieked and turned around in a fighting stance

"Who are you?" she yelled, she had a strong Australian accent

"Likewise, what are you doing here?" Buffy examined her suspiciously

"None of your business" she replied defensively

"No its entirely out business" Faith approached her "so talk" she ordered pulling up a stake just in case. The girl rolled her eyes and took a step back.

"I'm not a vampire, my names Ashley" she explained "I'm a" Grace cut her off "Slayer" she revealed for her

"Pretty much what I was saying yeah" she gave Grace an annoyed look

"How'd you know about all this then?" Buffy gestured to the room covered with broken desks and a floor covered with dust. Ashley kicked a loose plank of wood out of the way and sat down on a chair that was still standing.

"Besides it being front page news? I was here on a university assignment when this blonde vampire came in, killed over 60 kids, turned over ten of them and then came in here" she explained "I was just lucky I had my long bow on me" she grinned

"Nice choice!" Faith was surprised; the long bow was one of her favourite weapons

"That doesn't add up," Buffy pointed out. Ashley raised an eyebrow

"Why would you bring your crossbow for a university project at a kindergarten?" she inquired

"Vamp activities been in the red lately, cant be too careful right?" she replied calmly. Buffy nodded, she'd brought weapons to school before too, just in case.

"So the blonde vampire…" Grace spoke up "you dusted her right?" she questioned, something in her tone showed she knew more than she was letting on

"Well yeah" she laughed, "You know I'm thinking we should go somewhere less morbid for this Q and A thing" she suggested, suddenly chipper. They all left the room following this new slayer since they had no idea where they were going. Grace stayed in the room for a few more seconds with a dark expression on her face… something was very wrong.

"Gray, you coming or what?" Faith called from down the hall

"Yeah" she called back then lowered her voice to a whisper "something coming…"

_**Author's notes go here now --- **_

_Okay sorry for the delay in update, I've been super busy lately. But please review still; I've been getting about 4000 hits, but no reviews!_

_Oh and I do not live in Sydney and I've only been there once to visit family. So the whole Sydney storyline will be written mostly on stuff I've been to or seen other people do. So bare with me! _


	13. Hidden

"So you three are all slayers?" Ashley questioned taking a swig of her orange juice. The 8 of them found a stylish Italian café just on the wharfs. It was a few streets down from where Ashley told hem her apartment was and she couldn't stop bragging about life on the Rocks.

"Grace is the newest" Buffy added, feeling a bit odd about being the oldest slayer at the table

"Yep, but I guess we have a new baby slayer now!" Grace smiled bitterly at Ashley, jumping at the chance to insult her.

"I guess… how old are you?" Ashley inquired curiously

"Sixteen" Grace snapped

"Nope I win!" she took a bite of her potato and chewed it while grinning victoriously "I'm nineteen" she added. Grace silently fumed while she stabbed angrily at her risotto

"So was Darla trouble?" Robin asked joyfully, for some reason he didn't really know, Sydney was making him awfully chipper. Ashley waited a moment before replying

"Not really, the hardest part was the kids… but hey! That's life" she shrugged then looked up at the roof "or at least that's life when you're suddenly a superhero" she said stabbing her knife into the potato and leaving it there.

"Well technically your not a superhero since you didn't really save anybody" Anya couldn't resist putting her two cents in as well. Spike watched Ashley's face turn pale, like she'd just seen a ghost

"Yeah well, we all slip up right niblet?" he looked over at Buffy, as he didn't really know how to make a stranger feel better

"Whatever" she replied but gave him a small smile of gratitude

"I'm bored," Anya stated poking at her sandwich

"Ahn, we're in public, that where we use out manners" Xander said as if speaking to a little kid

"Well if you want you can take your girlfriend for a walk and I can show you guys my apartment" Ashley offered kindly

"You're apartment?" Buffy questioned, she didn't remember her saying anything like that before

"Well yeah…" Ashley replied slowly "you said you guys didn't have a place to stay yet so your welcome to set up camp at mine until your flight home" she explained happily

"Sounds pretty good to me B" Faith picked up her stuff and pulled out a loose piece of paper and handed it to Ashley with a blue pen "write the address down, I'm beat anyway" she grinned, in truth she'd been wishing to relax the whole time. This didn't feel like a mission to her, it was more like a holiday. Buffy picked up her things too

"Okay so Faith, Robin, Spike and I will go to the apartment and drop our things off, then we'll meet back here at six," she instructed, picking up Xander and Anya's shared bag too

"I'm going to go check out the Opera House" Xander proclaimed then off Buffy's look "they have architecture tours…I read about it on the way over" he confessed, trying to hold back his excitement

"I'm in Xander's group!" Anya stated quickly then latched herself onto his arm

"Guess that leaves us, wanna hit the shops?" Ashley asked Grace with a friendly smile. Grace didn't even look at her in response

"I'm not big on clothes shopping" she replied bitterly

"Oh… well there's a music mega store down past the real shops" she pointed in the direction she was talking about

"What about the Luna place? I saw it on TV, lets go there" Grace demanded, ignoring the looks she was getting.

"Oh! Sure!" Ashley agreed, suddenly chipper again. The headed towards the ferry wharfs and lined up for their tickets. The rest of the gang went their separate ways thus beginning their first day out in Sydney.

"Nightwish?" Ashley asked

"Don't like them" Grace replied coldly

"Well I've gone through my entire ipod, what do you like?" she asked impatiently as they walked out of Luna Park's food court with their soft drinks.

"Iron Maiden, Avenged Sevenfold, Mindless Self Indulgence" she stated as if it weren't obvious enough already "you know, good bands" she remarked rudely

"Okay then" Ashley shut up, finally getting the message

"So… what rides do you wanna go on?" Ashley questioned hoping Grace would lighten up if they went on some rides

"Don't care," she grumbled

" How about the horror house?" Ashley grinned 'two slayers would totally ace that right?" she laughed then stopped after seeing the look of hate on Grace's face

"Fine" Grace sounded murderously angry

"Okay, lets go!" Ashley laughed awkwardly, not wanting to push Grace any further than she had. The two of them showed their tickets to the ride owner who stamped them and pointed a hairy finger towards the entrance. The sound of their feet hitting the ground was the only sound in the darkened hallway. Suddenly a cardboard vampire lunged out of the wall with an unconvincing pair of fangs on him. Grace smashed her fist right through its face. Ashley rolled her eyes; she'd had enough. She ran forward and spun Grace around by the shoulder

"Don't touch me!" Grace warned and Ashley glared

"What is your problem?" Ashley inquired, nothing but annoyance in her eyes

"Nothing, now BACK OFF!" Grace said through gritted teeth

"No, something's up and you keep on taking it out on me!" Ashley yelled back "so either fess up or fuck off!" she screamed. Grace's eyes widened in anger, Ashley let go of her shoulder.

"You wanna know what's up?" she didn't wait for a reply "there's this deceitful little bitch who's been lying to all of my friends, put me in danger, put THEM in danger and now she just walks around like nothing happened even though she knows its wrong!" she huffed angrily

"Deceitful? What have I even lied about?" Ashley shrieked defensively

"God, give it a rest!" Grace threw her hands up in the air "I know exactly what happened because I was told by someone who actually there!" Grace informed her and Ashley's face fell in fear

"Who?" I was the only one who go out alive" she looked for the nearest exit sign, she could make a break for it if she ran fast enough

"Starts with Dar ends with la, the vampire you didn't dust, am I ringing a bell here?"

"Its none of your concern" Ashley said darkly

"No, its really not, but you may want to start talking" Grace replied calming down a little "I know what she took from you"

"Shut up…" Ashley warned

"I know you think its your fault but she was just ready for you" Grace spoke soothingly, it was her last resort to reach out to this girl

"I said shut up" she growled

"You're afraid, but you can't let that get in the way"

"I said shut your mouth!" Ashley cried and hit Grace squarely in the jaw. Grace fell back a few steps; she looked up angrily then the anger faded when she saw Ashley was crying.

"She took my sister!" she sobbed, she suddenly seemed like a child

"I know the feeling, vampires took my mother away from me" she reassured her but Ashley continued weeping loudly "but there's one small difference" Grace spoke assertively, like a leader

"We can get your sister back," Grace promised, "Darla wanted a slayers blood, she's weakened, she needs it," she explained

"Then I'll hand myself over! Just please make sure she gets out safely, take her back to mum and dad!" Ashley cried in desperation, she didn't even have the energy to wipe away the waterfall of tears staining her cheeks

"It's not going to come down to that" she promised, then off Ashley's look "If she wants a slayer, we'll bring her four, on the house"

**Authors notes will go here now!**

_Okay this was sort of my shortest chapter but that's because the next ones big and thanks to everyone reviewing, your awesome! _

_If there's any questions feel free to ask._

_Also Ashleys apartement is going to be one that I have actually stayed in so hopefully I get the description right. Oh and the café's and stuff they go to and the stuff they eat, all places I've gone to and stuff I've eaten. _

_Hope your enjoying and leave some feedback! ^-^_


	14. In Good Company

_Cleveland – present day – Buffy's apartment _

"_Dawnie, we're not saying you shouldn't spend time with Nick…" Willow spoke cautiously then looked over at Giles for some back up _

"_Well don't look at me! I'm just as appalled as the rest of you and quite frankly I could go a good long stretch without having to see that again" Giles said as he awkwardly cleaned his glasses _

"_I think what Rupert is trying to say is seeing that kind of thing is just…" Jenny fished her brain for the right words _

"_Unwanted" Giles finished for her_

"_It was gross" Willow added then off Dawns looks "its not that we don't like him, he's a swell guy but… don't you think you're being a bit fast-move-y-gal?" Willow questioned_

"_No! I love him and you don't have the right to judge us… besides he only had his top off…" she smiled at the memory. She couldn't help herself, he was just so powerful, not to mention attractive _

"_Yes a detail of which we are all painfully aware of now, we just need to set some rules around here so it doesn't happen again" Giles tried to convince her to clam down _

"_Oh sure, let's make sure Dawn can't have any fun! I'm not going to stick around here anymore, I'm going to Nicks so don't bother to find me" Dawn grumbled then stormed out the door_

"_Giles… I think we should call Buffy, just let her know Dawns acting kinda weird," Willow suggested as she was plainly concerned about Dawn _

"_No, the last thing Buffy needs right now is more things to worry about" Giles replied calmly "but perhaps looking into this fellows history wouldn't be a bad idea… both Buffy and Dawn seem to have odd tastes in men" Giles rolled his eyes, he still didn't trust Spike with Buffy, but he couldn't say anything about it front of the others _

"_No problem, I can check out the school records and see what our guys been up to, just give me a minute" Willow smiled as she opened up her laptop and began typing away. Giles pulled up a chair and looked at her laptop in confusion, technology was still way beyond him _

"_Whoa… hold on" Willow's face fell grave with worry _

"_What did you find?" Giles asked _

"_Nothing… I cant even get into his files, they're all blocked and figuring out the password could take days" Willow sighed angrily "I'll keep snooping around till I can find something on this guy"_

"_Yes, try everything you can, meanwhile Jenny…" Giles turned around to speak to Jenny but she gone "Jenny?" He called then realized the door to the basement was closed… she must've gone down to visit Angel. At that moment the phone rang Giles went to pick it up then walked back to Willow and handed her the phone _

"_Who is it?" she questioned but took the phone from him _

"_Faith" he replied _

"_Hello Angel" Jenny greeted emotionlessly _

"_Well what a shock this is" Angel grinned as Jenny descended the stairs "the woman I killed so long ago… what was your name again? Janna was it? Or was that was those silly gypsy's named you?" Angel asked, enjoying the company, he hadn't been able to torment anyone lately as no one came down to see him anymore except for Willow when she wanted to check up on him _

"_Jenny, but I'd like you to know whatever spell you've got on me, forget it, I'm over it now" Jenny said getting as close to the bars as she dared "the dreams, the fear, its getting old and I'm over it" she informed him _

"_The dreams? Should I know what you're talking about?" he looked at her with a bored expression _

"_Its not you?" Jenny raised an eyebrow _

"_Listen, sweetheart, I don't know what your problems are but I'm not behind them, if I were you'd be dead by now" Angel finished darkly _

"_How'd you get your soul back?" Jenny asked quickly, she wondered if he'd achieved perfect happiness with someone other than Buffy _

"_Don't know, don't care" he shrugged "I do remember though the girl who did it said she was a vengeance demon, which is ironic because this isn't really a punishment for me" he chuckled "except the whole cage of fire thing, I'm drinking blood on cloud nine" he joked with a disturbingly evil smile_

"_Vengeance demon? Who would want to get back at Angel like this?" Jenny questioned after all, Angelus was the only one who could know _

"_Well if you go get me some paper I can write you a list," he offered sarcastically _

"_Forget, we're finished here" Jenny stated as she began running back up the stairs_

"_Sweet dreams then" he joked _

"_Go to hell" she spat back at him as she slammed the basement door _

"_Why do people keep saying that to me?" Angelus spoke to himself _

_Sydney – present day – Ashley's apartment_

"Well Spike and I can take the foldout bed" Buffy suggested, the gang stood in the large white living room or Ashley's apartment. It was incredibly clean with a huge wide screen TV and a view to die for. It was on the third floor of a very expensive apartment on the Rocks and the living room window doors opened up onto a balcony, which looked over the crystal blue water.

"Right and I've got a few sleeping bags as well" Ashley spoke up "Ones mine and the others…" she stopped talking and walked off to go get them.

"What's all that about then?" Spike questioned

"Darla took her sister" Grace explained quickly and everyone seemed to fall silent

"How unfortunate" Anya nodded absently to herself "are we going to get food soon?" she asked Xander impatiently

"Ahn, just sit down and wait" he sighed as the two of them sat down on the couch

"Help yourself to the TV, I get most channels, I have some movies on there too" Ashley called from the other room, then skipped into the room balancing two sleeping bags in her arms. She tripped over the kitchen counter on her way and almost face planted herself into the carpet until Spike caught her

"Easy there niblet" he said as she put herself back on her feet

"I was fine!" she insisted then off Spikes look "I had a plan…" she added as her face went bright red "anyway, who's sleeping where?" she inquired hoping they'd sorted it out while she was gone

"Yes, Xander and I will be taking the large double bed in your room, its big and made for two people" she grinned "and you're not two people little missy, so I think that beds ours!" she patted Ashley on the shoulder

"Why? You guys can take the guest room, that's got two singles and a bunk bed" Ashley shrugged, she didn't care much either way

"Yes, but see at some point we were planning on having sex, and to do that we'd need the double bed" Anya explained

"We were planning on doing what?" Xander asked suddenly, Anya hadn't said anything like this to him before

"You're not doing that on my bed!" Ashley refused in a panic

"Fine, fine, have it your way" Anya grumbled

"Ahn!" Xander warned

"Right…" she sighed "thanks for having us over at your lovely home!" she smiled

"Okay so Xander, Anya, Faith and Robin will take the guest room, Spike and I will take the couch and Grace you don't mind the floor?" Buffy felt guilty for doing that to Grace

"Yeah, I'm sure I can handle it" Grace put her hand to her head for dramatic effect

"Willow said the seers might not be able to get back to us by tonight" Faith announced as she and Robin walked into the room

"What? We can't just sit around!" Ashley complained, worried about her little sister's safety

"Don't worry, I'm sure your sister is perfectly fine" Robin assured Ashley

"Yeah the seers would have seen it and called us right away" Buffy added reassuringly then Grace jumped off the table she was sitting on and clapped her hands together and grinned and evil grin

"Who's up for poker?"

"This is getting pointless" Buffy laughed looking down at her hand, things were not looking good and she'd already put what little remained of her counters in the middle of the table

"Yeah, not to mention depressing" Xander agreed then placed his cards face down "I fold" he sighed. Buffy placed hers down too

"Yeah I'm with Xander… poker is _not _my game" Buffy complained then jumped off the table and walked around to Spikes side of the table to look at his cards

"Well it's certainly mine!" Anya sang joyfully as she pushed two more black counters into the middle and gave a challenging look to Grace, who had more counters than she did

"Don't count your chickens…" Grace warned

"What chickens?" Anya questioned as Grace laughed and pushed four blacks into the middle and the girls glanced at Spike expectantly

"Give a bloke a minute!" he defended himself, he wouldn't admit it but he knew he was going to lose "its very hard to cheat with a see through table!" he complained and put his cards face down

"You in the fold club too?" Buffy asked him

"Seems so love" he replied as she grinned and he bent down for a kiss. Buffy wrapped her arms around his human neck and Spike immediately deepened the kiss. The door clicked open and Faith, Robin and Ashley waked in holding bags full of Chinese food

"Get a room B!" Faith laughed as Buffy pulled away from Spike

"Thanks for that Faith" she gave Faith an annoyed look

"Hey, I'm not the only one in the room who doesn't want to watch a saliva show" she smirked as she placed the bags on the table

"Second that" Ashley laughed

"Aha!" Grace yelled and threw her arms up in victory. Anya pouted and got up from the table

"Xander, she's rubbing it in my face, make her stop" she whined

"Anya, you would have done the exact same thing, don't be a sore loser" he scolded

"Sore? Oh fine take her side! Just because I don't have the memories doesn't mean you can make fun of me!" she said angrily

"I'm not making fun of you," he said defensively as she stormed off for the guest room "Anya!" he called out for her then followed her, bringing a few boxes of food just in case she didn't want to come out again

"Do they fight a lot?" Ashley inquired opening a box of fried rice and digging into it with a spoon

"No… well yeah, it's a long story" Buffy shook her head "are you okay? You look kinda bad moody… no offense" she added quickly at the end and Ashley shrugged

"Yeah well I'm not really that new to the slayer thing, and the strength is awesome and all that" Ashley smirked "but how would you deal if some evil thing took your sister away from you when you could have stopped it?" the questioned was rhetorical but Buffy answered anyway

"Well you haven't gone catatonic so that's a good sign" she smiled friendly

"Huh?" Ashley asked in between mouthfuls

"A hell God took my sister from me, I went catatonic" Buffy explained like it was no big deal anymore

"Whoa… well thanks, that makes me feel strangely better" Ashley smiled then the smile disappeared and her eyes went wide "wait, you get hell Gods?" she questioned unbelievably

"Just the one" Buffy said

"I almost killed her once too" Spike added then exchanged a grin with a Buffy

"Huh?" Ashley couldn't wrap her head around this, but it was taking her mind of things so it was a welcome distraction

"Yeah and I tried to kill him" Robin added pointing at Spike

"Because I killed his mum" Spike explained like it was all ancient history

"Yeah and I had to kill my mom" Grace added casually

"I tried to kill Buffy a couple of times too," Faith reminded them

"Yeah but then I put you in a coma" Buffy replied then Ashley stopped eating all together

"Wait… can you just kinda… start from the start before I get the feeling you've all tried to murder each other!" Ashley laughed awkwardly; this was all way too much to take in for her right now

"I don't think everyone has…" Buffy searched her mind

"Nope, sorry pet, we have" Spike patted her shoulder

"Xander hasn't has he?" Faith double-checked, the Xander she knew wouldn't hurt a fly. In fact the Xander she knew wouldn't be able to hurt a fly without hurting himself

"Oh yeah! Good point, Xanders fine! He even saved the world once" Buffy informed Ashley happily

"How?" she questioned

"With his… words he saved the world with his words" Buffy smiled hoping this would make sense, obviously it didn't

"Okay, from the top then?" Spike suggested as the six of them took seats around the table again and Buffy began recounting life back in Sunnydale


	15. Battle

It was now mid afternoon and Spike, Buffy, Ashley, Faith, Robin and Anya were all sitting around the glass table again. They had agreed that tonight would be the best to find Darla now that they were all rested. The only thing that they didn't know was where to find Darla in the first place

"She likes a view" Spike added, Ashley had insisted on learning everything there was to learn about Darla, so she could prepare herself for the battle that was sure to come

"That's not a huge help," Ashley complained

"Actually it is. We just have to find the spots that give the best view of Sydney right?" Buffy questioned, sitting comfortably in Spikes arms

"Yeah that narrows it down to every tower we've got" Ashley replied matter-of-factly

"No, Darla never went in for towers, not really her thing" Spike disagreed, biting into his toast "you know I never really enjoyed this enough when I was human before" he stated as Buffy smiled

"Yeah its even nicer when you put stuff on it" she hinted, and he looked at her in shock

"I can put stuff on this?" he asked with a grin

"Hey! Problem at hand lets have some focus please" Ashley raised her voice a little

"Well personally I don't see the problem, I mean it's likely that your sisters already dead, so why don't we just wait for Darla to come after us?" Anya questioned

"Yeah and after that I can throw my mum into a pit of lions, what are you? Insane?" Ashley yelled at Anya then stormed out of the apartment and headed to the training room downstairs on the ground level. She started hitting away at the punching bag while trying to save up her energy for the real fight

"Any harder and its gonna give" Faith said from the door, looking admiringly at all the training equipment "is this all yours?" she asked incredulously

"The hotels, lots of these people have personal trainers and stuff, it just use it for fun, helps me let out steam" she explained while punching the bag again

"Yeah cool, whatever you need to do" Faith shrugged then started walking around the room, checking out all the equipment. She stopped at the treadmill and started poking buttons to see what would happen, suddenly the machine burst to life and Faith jumped back about a meter

"Why did it do that?" she questioned in fear, she'd never used this kind of thing before, jail liked to stick the basics. She'd spent most of her free time doing bench presses and sit-ups and chin-ups.

"Don't know, I never use that" Ashley replied calmly "I'm more of a punch-y kind of girl," she admitted and Faith smiled

"Yeah hitting stuff can be fun," she agreed with a laugh

"Also, slayer strength, not a bad asset to have you know" Ashley pointed out then stopped hitting the punching bag. She sighed and crossed her arms "now, what do you really want?"

Faith laughed, "I want to know if your actually ready for this" Faith said bluntly

"I'm getting my sister back, I don't have time for second thoughts right now" Ashley replied

"Yeah but if it comes down to it, if your sisters is dead, or if Darla kills her in front of you, will you still fight?" Faith questioned

"It's not going to come down to that!" Ashley insisted

"What if it does?" Faith yelled back

"I just told you its not going to" Ashley replied in a voice that was too calm from her previous tone then she pushed her way past Faith and back into the elevator. Faith watched her walk away and sighed in annoyance

"Don't say I didn't warn ya" she mumbled to herself then went to go wait for the elevator to come back down

"She like Anya, but she's not the Anya that I really knew, but it just kind of feels like she's becoming more and more like the Anya I knew even though she's not" Xander tried to explained while he and Grace walked down the footpath together, the sky was almost dark even though it was the middle of the day. It was going to storm soon

"Don't get all double-negative on me" Grace warned, already confused enough as it was

"Sorry, you probably think I'm a bit weird now huh?" Xander laughed

"Little bit yeah" Grace replied honestly then slowed down a little "um, hey I'll meet up with you at the Opera House in like ten minutes okay, I just forgot I had something to do" Grace said, staring off to the left of where they stood

"Yeah sure, take your time" Xander replied casually "not too much time though" he added quickly, realizing that tours wouldn't be open much longer. Anya had refused to go, and it turned out that Grace was pretty heavily into history and architecture, so Xander couldn't wait to bring her along too

"Yeah sure, time and whatever" Grace replied blankly as she walked away. Xander shrugged and just kept on walking to Opera House. Grace ran along the streets, cutting past a line of traffic that began angrily honking at her as she ran past, not even caring about the disturbance.

"Hey!" she called out to familiar figure as it quickly disappeared into an old building. She ran into it as well, as fast as she could when she realized that the apartment was in direct view or where she was. A sign was faded on the door, it was an old women's prison

"Nice place, could do with a throw rug or two, but hey" Grace called out "if its what a demon calls home then who am I to judge" she finished as a snicker could be heard from beside her. Leaning against some rusty old bars was Gretel; she looked almost like she could be Grace's twin

"I didn't think you'd follow me all the way here," Gretel laughed

"You followed me first," Grace pointed out "at the airport remember, you tapped into my mind and told me just where to find you" Grace recalled going into the cargo hold and getting attacked from behind, then Gretel told her everything she wanted about Ashley's kid sister and what the plans were

"So you still got her up in here?" Grace asked casually

"Darla likes a view" Gretel pointed out "she liked the ferries as well, she's been wanting to go on the bridge too, but she never makes it in time for the night tours" Gretel grinned, she knew Darla never made it because she feeding

"What are you planning?" Grace inquired

"A lady never tells" Gretel laughed, Grace grabbed onto Gretel's collar and slammed her into the bars

"Tell," she ordered furiously

"Darla, she's using the girl as bait, she wants a slayer, and she says it's a gift" Gretel spoke, suddenly terrified that a slayer had her by the shirt, an angry slayer no less

"If she wanted one, she could have just stayed in America" Grace pointed out

"She said it would be too easy, she wanted something rare to give her 'dear boy'" Gretel explained "she called him Angelus"

"Angelus?" Grace whispered "the vampires in on all this?" Grace asked frantically

"And I bet your about the threaten me, you'll say 'if you don't tell me what's really going I will kill you!'" Gretel dramatically mimicked Grace "well forget it sweetie, I've already told you what I know" Gretel said as Grace let go of her shirt. Grace walked away ready to go upstairs again

"We'll meet you here, after the sun goes down" Grace reminded Gretel "and we'll be armed, and no, I won't be sparing your life" Grace added

"Whatever white-hat" Gretel replied

"Whose side are you on?" Grace questioned opening the front door a little bit

"I play whatever side I feel like playing" Gretel replied then continued her way up the stairs. Grace shook her head; she knew it was all going to get more difficult and confusing from here. But she also knew what she had to do now. She walked back to the apartment a little quicker than usual and on her way pulled out her cell and rang Xander.

"Grace?" he answered slightly confused

"Yeah listen change of plans," she said quickly nearing the apartment

"Where are you? You said ten minutes and you've been gone almost half an hour," Xander said suspiciously

"Get back to the apartment, don't ask just do" Grace ordered then hung up her phone and then ran for the elevators. She waited impatiently as the numbers slowly counted up then as soon as three lit up she tapped her foot until the doors opened. She ran out and threw Ashley's front doors open then as soon as she found where the gang was hanging out she made her announcement

"Mount up troops, we've got a new plan"

"Okay, so you guys know what to do?" Grace asked impatiently to Robin and Xander

"Yeah but are sure she wont be there? I mean Gretel could have been lying" Robin pointed out, kind of afraid to face Darla with only Xander as back up

"I'm sure, Gretel might be an evil bitch but she doesn't lie, I know where they'll be, and we can get there before them" Grace insisted

"And Zoë? Are we just gonna leave her?" Ashley asked, not at all pleased with Grace's ruse

"No, I just said, she'll be in the old jail, that's where Robin and Xander are going now" Grace hinted then gave Xander a look

"Gone" he got what she meant and he and Robin walked out of the apartment, loaded with stakes and swords, just in case.

"Buffy, Faith, Spike, Ashley and I are going to the bridge" Grace said, happily taking charge

"Whoa, time out, why the bridge?" Faith questioned, she wasn't really fond of being so high above water, drowning was not on her to-do list

"Yeah why would Darla stick to the road?" Buffy asked, a bit embarrassed that she hadn't really taken charge as she always did in these situations

"She won't, that's why we're taking the stairs" Grace replied "on the plane over here, that documentary we watched, it said that there was no other way to see Sydney than to climb the bridge" Grace recounted

"And with a view like that" Buffy started

"There's no way Darla would be able to resist" Faith finished

"Lets move out" Ashley insisted

"Wait!" Anya called when they were just about the close the door

"What?" Buffy asked

"What do I do?" Anya asked, feeling a bit left out

"Stay here, watch TV or something" Buffy instructed then slammed the door. Anya shuffled over to the couch and picked up the remote

"Finally, something I want to do" she smiled to herself then slumped down into the couch, looking out at the old jail while she as it. She didn't know why but she kept wondering if Xander would be okay or not.

"What do we do if she's not up here?" Ashley asked, finding that she had to yell just to be heard over the rain and the wind

"Go back down, go to the jail probably" Buffy guessed continued to climb up the stairs, carefully holding onto the slippery railings, it was easily a 50 meter drop and she wasn't even all the way up yet. The whole thing was made of metal, so considering it was on the verge on storming, they had more dangers than just Darla now too

"Have you fought Darla before?" Ashley asked, talking was the only way to calm her nerves right now and Buffy seemed in quite the same way

"Yeah, ages ago, she was strong back then, I have no idea what she'll be like now" Buffy admitted "but with four slayers, she might not be around long enough to show us" she reassured Ashley went suddenly they heard a growl. Faith, Grace and Spike must've made it up first

"Crap" Buffy murmured then tried climbing as fast as she could without slipping. At the top of the bridge Darla had just dodged a kick from Spike, she went to reach for his leg, but he moved away just in time.

"Since when did you get a pulse?" Darla spat, her white dress what saturated with rain but it didn't seem to bother her, let alone slow her down

"20 questions later bitch" Spike replied, a bit cautious now that he was human, the fall would actually kill him now

"Watch your tongue, William!" Darla scolded then laughed but a sudden roar of thunder covered up her laughter. The sudden noise made Spike look away. In the confusion Darla slammed him against the railing and made her way over to Faith, she only needed one slayer, and he first priority was to get rid of the other three. The last one was for Angelus

"Spike!" Buffy screamed and ran over for him, picked him up and took one look at the blood running down his face and knew what she had to do

"We have to get you out of here" she yelled, he could barely lift his head in response

"Don't go far!" Darla yelled back as Faith kicked her in the back and she jumped forward a little bit. She then turned around and brushed hair out of her eyes

"Well if you want to go first, you could have just asked!" Darla lunged forward and grabbed hold of Faith's soaking wet leather jacket and slammed her back and forth against the railings. Getting bored quickly Darla kneed Faith directly in the stomach then while Faith was keeled over in pain Darla pick her up off the stairs.

"It really was a nice view" she giggled as she tossed Faith off the bridge. The others watched in horror, as her body collided with the water, causing a huge splash.

"No!" Grace cried, hoping to God that Faith wasn't dead she looked at Buffy quickly, who in return mouthed the words 'go' to her. She nodded and started going down the stairs as quick as she possibly could, perhaps she could just find a boat then find Faith. She quickly looked over to the place where Faith had fallen, there was nothing there anymore, where had Faith gone?

"How dare you!" Buffy screamed as she pulled out her small axe and took out a good slice into Darla's back. Darla turned around

"I don't even think your trying anymore!" Darla quipped "why don't you go help your friend?" she suggested as she pushed Buffy backwards. Buffy gasped as she lost her footing and began falling off the bridge just as Faith had. Suddenly a cold wet hand was grabbing hers and then a similar, smaller hand grabbed her other hand and quickly pulled her up. Darla smiled as Buffy pulled herself back on her feet

"I love to see people working together, its just sweet" she chuckled then frowned at them "its sickening" she finished then grabbed Buffy by the shoulder pushed her face first into the cold wet metal stairs they were standing on. Buffy slid past where Darla stood, leaving Darla facing Ashley and Spike. Ashley bolted forward, forgetting about the rain for now and grabbed Darla's arms and pinned them across her back, making it intensely difficult for to move

"Spike now!" she yelled at the top of lungs, Spike wasted no time thinking about it, pulled a stake out from his duster and driving it right through Darla's heart

"Its not over yet!" Darla laughed as she turned to dust, which was quickly washed down into the water below them. Spike stood still for a moment, a bit shocked that he practically just staked his grandmother.

"Spike!" Ashley said in fear, when Spike looked up at her, there were small tears gathering in her eyes. She was kneeling down with two fingers on Buffy's neck "she's not breathing!"


	16. People Who Care

**If your not reviewing because you don't like the story please say so because I am planning on dropping a story and if no ones really interested in this then it's gone. **

Robin and Xander found Ashley's sister Zoë right where Grace said she would be. Robin had then suggested borrowing a boat so they could see how the others were going. They were now floating about in the darkness. Robin stopped the boat and then looked up in confusion, rain splashing down on his face

"Why are you stopping? Stopping is not a very logical plan right now!" Xander insisted then followed Robins gaze to the top the bridge

"They're up there" Robin replied, concentrating harder to see if they were all up there "There's only three people though, we should go" Robin spoke in panic, wondering if something had happened to Faith

"Wait, is that Grace?" Xander questioned looking at the frantic figure in the distance, waving at them from behind a huge metal fence "what does she want?" Xander wondered then a smallish hand tapped his elbow

"There's something in the water," Zoë stated, looking out over the side of the boat. Xander ran and started looking around, almost ten meters away was Faith floating face up in the water, lifeless

"Oh God… Robin!" Xander shouted, fighting to keep his voice louder than the storm. Robin was over there in a heartbeat staring at the body, nothing by horror on his face anymore

"Get rope," he ordered without any emotion whatsoever then he threw himself into the water and swam directly for Faith. Once he had her in his grasp he couldn't tell if she was breathing or not but he could feel tons of small fish and whatever else inhabited these waters swarming around them "Xander!" he screamed in impatience as Xander threw out the longest rope he could find and began pulling Robin and Faith towards the boat. As soon as they were on board Robin lay down Faith's body and began mouth-to-mouth, but with no luck, she was no longer moving "Go!" he ordered Xander "just get to the nearest port and we'll get her to the nearest hospital!" Robin's voice was drenched with pain and desperation, he'd never been so afraid in his whole life.

"Going" Xander replied quickly and started up the boat again

"Hospital?" Spike questioned once they had climbed down the bridge, he was holding Buffy tightly in his arms. She was breathing, but she was sporting a pretty big bruise on her head. She was unconscious and that was enough to worry Spike.

"We'll get a cab" Ashley responded and almost as if the driver was listening a cab pulled up on the side of the street "lets go!" she said, smiling slightly at her luck. Spike climbed in first, with Buffy leaning into his chest. Ashley jumped into the front and looked at the driver "hospital please" she commanded politely and the man nodded and started driving. Then Ashley noticed Zoë walking with Xander and Robin who was holding what looked like Faith in his arms "stop the car!" Ashley demanded

"But your friend?" the driver asked pointing at Buffy

"What are you doing slayer?" Spike asked in annoyance, he didn't care about anything apart from Buffy right now

"I'll meet you there" Ashley replied quickly then got out and slammed the doors. The car drove off with great haste

"Ashley!" Zoë called out to her sister, glad to see a familiar face after this week, Ashley gave her little sister a hug

"Are you okay? Did they hurt you?" Ashley questioned frantically, before Zoë could reply Grace finally caught up to them, she was puffed, soaking wet and pale as a sheet

"No, I'm okay" Zoë grinned and gave her sister the thumbs up

"We don't have time for your stupid reunion!" Grace yelled then signaled a cab and Robin climbed in with Faith. Xander held the door open looking at Grace who glaring at a frightened Ashley

"You guys coming or not?" Xander asked loudly as a roar of thunder passed by

"Just take her home, you'll only get in the way" Grace said bluntly, fearing for both Buffy and Faith. Ashley watched as Grace jumped into the front seat of the cab and like the last it sped off towards the hospital

"Can we go home?" Zoë asked, not aware of what was happening

"Yeah…" Ashley replied, secretly hurting about having everyone attacking her at all sides today, it just didn't seem fair. When she finally approached her apartment she found Anya waiting outside in her pajamas

"Anya?" Ashley questioned, pretty confused now

"Where's Xander? Is he okay? Because I keep on having these annoying thoughts that he's not okay and I don't know why I care because I've only really known him for a few weeks but I know if he's not okay then I'm not going to be very pleased" Anya took a deep breath and waited expectantly for an answer

"Xanders at the hospital" Ashley replied quickly and calmly

"What? Oh my God is he okay?" Anya questioned, suddenly panicky

"He's fine, he's gone there with Faith and Buffy, who might not be fine…" Ashley informed Anya, feeling guilty about not staking Darla earlier. Anya took a deep breath to calm down then looked at Zoë in confusion

"What's that?" she questioned rudely

"My sister, and what do you mean what's that?" Ashley questioned as the two of them made friendly banter all the way up to Ashley's apartment

"About your fare… don't worry about it, just make sure your friend gets better," the driver said to Spike as kindly as he could

"That's the plan mate" Spike replied quickly then slammed the door and ran inside the hospital emergency room "lets have some sodding service here!" he yelled angrily, as the waiting patients looked up in horror. A nurse came running out of the white swinging doors, she was middle aged with fading red hair

"How long has she been like this?" she questioned right away

"Almost an hour! Does it bloody matter? Just fix her!" Spike demanded as two more doctors ran out, one male, one female. Spike placed her down gently on the bed as the began wheeling her away, he tired to follow but he was stopped

"Are you family?" the middle aged nurse asked in her nasal tone of voice

"No but I need to be with her!" Spike insisted trying to push past her, but with his human strength he found it was more difficult, especially considering the weight of the woman in front of him

"We'll take care of it," the woman told him lazily

"Like hell, let me see her!" Spike growled, wishing he could use his vampire face right now, and then she wouldn't be blocking his way like this

"Sir, if you persist I will have you removed from here" the woman warned "just let us take care of this" she insisted as she followed the bed Buffy was being pulled away on. Spike almost screamed; being away from her was killing him. He couldn't believe they wouldn't let him in, what if she needed him? At that moment Xander, Robin and Grace ran through the doors holding a badly beaten Faith.

"Spike? Why are you here?" Xander asked as Robin ran up to the front desk and demanded to have someone help Faith. Spike looked up, suddenly realizing the sudden fear had made his heart speed up dramatically

"Buffy…" he could barely speak properly, he was too busy trying to calm down

"What? What happened?" Xander put aside his annoyance for a moment, Buffy was in hospital and that worried him

"She passed out, Darla hit her," Spike explained blankly

"Darla? Oh man is she? I mean did you?" Xander questioned as Robin handed Faith over to two male doctors who wheeled her away the same way Buffy had just been taken away

"Yeah, the other slayer… Ashley staked her good and proper" Spike recalled, he had barely paid attention. It was silent until Spike and Xander overheard Robin's conversation with the young blonde doctor at the front desk

"Its probably best if you go home for the night, get some rest" a younger male doctor was talking to Robin then looked over at Spike and Xander "are they with you?" the man questioned

"Yes" Robin answered calmly

"Well you can all come back tomorrow, visiting hours are from nine to five" the youth explained and then went back behind the counter. The three men walked back out into the rain and waited for a cab to come by and pick them up. Robin was worried, but hopeful about Faith's condition. Xander was worried about both women, mostly Buffy but he cared about Faith too. Spike didn't give a rat's ass about Faith right now; Buffy was in hospital. The woman he loved was in hospital, and there was nothing he could do about it.

Xander, Anya, and Robin were all sitting awkwardly on the couches in Ashley's apartment. Spike was leaning against the wall near the door, impatiently waiting for the sun to come up, even though it wasn't even midnight yet. Grace was poking at her Chinese takeout from the other night, she didn't have the apatite to eat but she couldn't think of anything else to do

"How long are we going to sit like this?" Anya questioned, finally breaking the silence

"How many times are you gonna ask that?" Spike replied in annoyance

"Well I'm sorry but anything would be more constructive than sitting around here moping" Anya grumbled resting her chin on the top of the couch

"Why don't you go outside then? I think that would be very constructive" Spike quipped

"Hey, watch it pal" Xander warned

"I'm not your sodding pal" Spike snapped back, too pissed off to care what he was saying

"You know I suddenly have the urge to shove my face in a pillow so I don't have to hear you anymore" Xander announced then walked towards the guest bedroom, Anya followed him, not wanting to sit around with everyone else

"Goodnight" she said half-heartedly then Robin stretched and said his goodnights too. The whole day had been so tiring for everyone. Spike wouldn't admit it now but he was just about ready to drop himself. Now it was just Spike, Grace and Ashley and none of them knew what to do, so Grace spoke up

"Do you have a club or anything down here? I need a good release" Grace lied, and Ashley nodded

"Just walk down past the occult shop, you'll hear it from there" Ashley informed, she'd only been there once herself, not one for spontaneous acts of dance

"Sweet, thanks" Grace gave Ashley the thumbs up, ignoring their small fight not one hour ago. She was grateful for what Ashley had just told her, she had a plan, and she was going to set everything right. Grace smiled sweetly at them both then bolted out the door and took the stairs instead of the elevator

"So, how are you holding up?" Ashley asked Spike cautiously, he didn't even need to answer, she could see it on his face "you want some beer? I have beer," Ashley offered

"God yes" he breathed as Ashley took one out of the fridge and threw a bottle at him

"Thanks" he muttered looking at the liquid, wondering how much it would take to get drunk now that he was human

"Not a problem" Ashley replied then plunked herself down onto the couch and switched the TV on "so what'll it be, crappy re-runs, the really old movie channel or that show where they catch fish?" Ashley asked, not actually familiar with any of the channels she had on her own television

"Not fussed niblet" Spike took his first swig of beer, amazed at how much better it tasted when you were human

"Okay then, but I did give you a choice" Ashley warned him then switched the channels around until she landed on _Korean News at 11.30_ and Spike gave her a look

"Do you even speak the language?" he accused and she grinned

"Well it wouldn't be fun if I could now would it?" she pointed out as the both settled in and drank the night away. Both of them were desperate to have the night finish, but it seemed to just drag on and on.

"Wanna call Quizmania?" Ashley inquired, suddenly excited, she'd done it tons of times before, and it was the perfect pick me up for Spike

"What the bloody hell is Quizmania?"

**Okay, chapter done, please review, because I'm not going to know to continue unless I get feedback. If there's a reason your not reviewing (like you want something particular in the story) then let me know through message or something okay? Cheers!**


	17. Loves Bitch

**Thanks for the reviews, and also thanks to a few of you who gave me some helpful suggestions (you know who you are) anyway, I hope your all still enjoying this story!**

"Huh, that's weird…" Ashley said as she walked into the room, still in her pajamas. Spike and Robin turned around, they were watching TV but on separate sides of the room, they still couldn't stand each other

"What's weird?" Robin questioned still glaring at the TV screen

"Its almost nine, I would have thought you would have left for the hospital by now" she hinted towards the microwave clock and they both froze

"That's not the time? Is it?" Spike wondered, it did not feel like 8:55 to him

"That means that we can go and…" Robin paused halfway as they both looked towards Ashley with grateful expression

"Still on American time?" she guessed as they both dashed out the door leaving it swinging open behind them. Ashley just laughed and headed towards the pantry, she pulled it out from the wall and examined what she had left

"Good morning" Xander yawned as Ashley smiled at him

"Hungry?" she questioned and he nodded "toast?" he nodded again, and Ashley put in another piece for Xander

"Hey where's Grace?" he asked as he took a seat by the kitchen bench

"I don't know? Why?" Ashley answered as she poked her head down the hall to see Anya and Zoë playing a game of Go Fish. Or rather seeing Zoë explaining it to Anya all over again

"Well she's not around, and I didn't here her come in last night…" Xander pointed out then off Ashley's look

"You think something happened to her? She's a slayer, what could possibly have happened to her?" just as Ashley finished saying that the front door burst open again and Ashley and Xander both jolted a little as Grace stumbled in

"Hi!" she laughed then sat down awkwardly

"Um… where did you go" Ashley asked, not really interested since Grace looked pretty happy for someone who'd been out all night

"Out…" Grace couldn't keep herself from smiling then Xander spoke up

"To the Chocolate Factory?" Xander joked

"Sydney has a Chocolate Factory?" Grace almost yelled

"Out where?" Ashley re-worded Xander's question

"Clubbing, I told you," Grace then sighed "well see I didn't really get to fight that much and I met this boy who was like _hot_ and well one thing led to another and we went back to his place so we could…"

"Okay!" Ashley cut her off mid sentence as the toaster went off

"Ooh toast!" Grace chimed then stole Ashley's toast and bounded out the door "I'm going for a walk, its too sunny to be inside today!" she grinned, still glowing from her one night stand with what's-his-name

"Wait, they did what?" Xander asked clearly confused as Ashley slammed her head down on the kitchen bench

Robin burst into Faiths room and looked at him in surprise

"Good morn" she stopped talking as he practically ran over to her and embraced her as hard as humanly possible "Uh…okay, how long was I out?" Faith could swear the nurse said she'd only been here for a night

"I don't know, half a day almost. Don't _ever _do that again!" he spoke too fast for Faith to really follow what he was saying

"I didn't go comatose again did I?" she asked

"Only for a little while so it wasn't too bad I guess" Robin replied, wondering how the doctors fixed her, he wanted to thank them

"Wicked" she grinned

"Excuse you?" he gave her a funny look

"This is like my third coma, I could set a world record if I keep this up" she joked

"That's not very funny," he said frankly and Faith placed and hand on his cheek

"You were seriously that worried?" she wondered and he gave her a look that told her that the answer was yes "okay, no more coma's, got it" Faith grinned as Robin's lips smashed down onto hers into a fiery kiss

"Friday…" he breathed "three days from now…" he said again between kisses "I'm taking you out" he finished and Faith stopped kissing him immediately

"Where?" she asked suspiciously

"The Bridge" he answered honestly

"Screw that!" she cried as she tried to jump off the bed to get out of the conversation. Robin caught her, hand around her waist so she could walk properly

"You're going" he stated, he wasn't giving her a choice

"Why? You want to see what it looks like from the top when I get pushed off? Is that it?" Faith accused him and he shook his head at her

"We're going in the middle of the day, with a whole group of people so you'll be safe" he promised

"Yeah right" she snorted

"No, I mean it. They give you harnesses and everything" he tried to convince her and she just rolled her eyes

"Give me one good reason why I should go," she ordered

"Because I'm going to give you something" she raised an eyebrow

"A good something or a bad something?" she questioned

"Depends on you really, what do mean a bad something?" he asked

"I don't know you could just go up there with me and start killing everybody" Faith smiled naively at him

"How much thought have you given that?" he asked out of curiosity

"Not much" she confessed, "you only just told me, I can't help it" she mumbled, slightly embarrassed

"Yeah well don't think too much on it, otherwise I wont be able to surprise you" he pointed out and she rolled her eyes

"Have I mentioned I'm not a big fan of surprises?"

"Have I mentioned that I'm not giving you a choice?"

"Yeah you have" Faith answered and Robin laughed

"So now the question becomes what to do today" Robin said and Faith slid her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a kiss

"Uh, is that your answer?" Robin wondered

"I think that's pretty obvious" she smirked as Robin leant down and resumed the kiss

Spike knocked on Buffy's hospital door, the nurses had warned him not to wake her as she might still have a concussion

"Come in Spike" she said from behind the door and Spike took a breath and opened the door. She was sitting upright with hair all over the place and an almost faded bruise on her forehead from the previous night. She smiled warmly as he slammed the door and stormed over to her

"Spike?" she questioned when he forcefully grabbed her shoulder and his lips came crashing down on hers. It was sudden, but not unwanted. Buffy kissed back and Spike deepened the kiss one hand in her hair, not wanting to let go. After he was done he sighed and sat down on the bed and she looked at him with wide eyes

"Spike? Are you okay?" she asked, he seemed tense

"I am now, I guess it just scared me" he replied truthfully

"What being up high?" Buffy asked in confusion, as far as she knew Spike didn't care about heights, he even liked them

"No, being human… seeing you… lying there, it scared me" he confessed and she smiled

"Yeah its called concern, get used to it" she joked and he looked at her

"Buffy, I've seen you dead before, if that ever happened again then I don't know what the hell I'd do…" he sighed, remembering when she'd sacrificed herself back in the Hell God days

"Well you can relax now because it's not going to happen" she assured him as she shuffled closer to him, blanket draped over her legs and all

"We staked Darla" Spike added quickly to lighten the mood

"Uh… good, that's good" Buffy replied then looked at him carefully again

"Something's still wrong" she stated and he looked at her with his pained clear blue eyes

"Its nothing pet, I'm okay" he reassured her and stroked her hair

"Spike?" she asked, almost timidly

"Yeah love?"

"Do I have stair face?" she asked, suddenly fearful

"Beg your pardon?" he wondered if she really didn't have a concussion

"Do I look like I hit my face on stairs? Like I have stairs on my face" she explained and then he finally understood

"You were almost killed and your worried about your looks?" he questioned her sanity

"Wouldn't you be?" she countered and he thought about it for a minute. He wouldn't admit it but he'd be somewhat worried about his hair… and of course he'd have to make sure his duster was un-harmed, that held some serious sentimental value to him

"Like I'd care" he lied casually

"You would" Buffy said "now answer honestly do I have stair face?" she said for the last time and Spike smiled her favourite smile

"You have Buffy face" he said, cupping her face in his hands, her face was still cold, he was thankful he could actually warm her up now

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" she questioned, their faces were within inches of each other

"It's a beautiful thing" he whispered and she brought her lips to his. This kiss was different from their usual ones, it was softer, bittersweet even. The kiss was growing intensity when Buffy's stomach let out an unusually loud growl. Spike broke the kiss and looked at her funny

"What I get hungry after a fight…" she confessed and he chuckled

"So I heard" he pulled her close to his side as they walked out of her room to go get some food together


	18. I'm Sorry?

**Hurray! You are one chapter away from my biggest surprise yet! I'm bringing someone into the story, someone you all know and love to pieces (one would assume) so while I hope this chapter meets your expectations keep reading as its only going to get better from here! **

"_My client! They killed my client!" Gretel screamed to her boss, the ultimate Vengeance Demon – D'Hofryn _

"_Because you were careless," he scolded her _

"_Because they were ready!" Gretel corrected him bitterly, thanking the Hells that he hadn't burned her into oblivion for messing up _

"_Seldom matters now though" he shrugged his big blue shoulders "the spell is cast, the games are set into motion already, we have the upper hand" he promised her gently _

"_Ye – what? Does that mean?" she looked behind her as a figure stepped out from the shadows, laughing _

"_Its time we sent in out first player, this is after all what one considers war"_

**Ashley's apartment – Kitchen **

"Huh, so Dawn's okay right?" Buffy questioned into the phone, Giles was on the other line. Luckily Ashley had permitted them just this once to call Cleveland, it was expensive enough to pay the hospital bills for another country

"_I wouldn't know, she seems to have taken a liking to coming home at all hours of the night as she pleases, sometimes bringing unwanted guests" _he complained

"Unwanted guests? As in Rick?" Buffy questioned furiously, Giles should have grounded Dawn for sneaking out with boys

"_I believe she calls him Nick… among other things"_ Giles sounded revolted

"Oh this is bad… do you want me to head back?" Buffy asked, as Spike looked up from him meat pie, concern written all over his face

"_No, no. You stay there and finish business, find Darla before more get hurt" _Giles instructed, unaware that they already had found Darla and staked her

"Actually Giles" Buffy began "that's… a really great idea, we'll see you in a week and a bit then!" Buffy held back a laugh; she deserved a holiday after all. She ignored the Dawn situation for now

"What's all that about, love?" Spike questioned ignoring his pie for now

"Nothing, just slayer-watcher stuff" Buffy shrugged

"Right and I see you've managed to skip the Darla story for the old git" he pointed out

"Are you against the idea of having a little teeny weensy holiday?" Buffy put on her best pout and he smirked

"I'm all for it pet, but lying to the Watcher isn't going to do any good, you know that as well as I do" Spike said, always the truth-seer, even with normal human perception he still managed to notice the small things

"Well he doesn't have to know, so are you going to pep talk me or should we enjoy the week we have?" she questioned, purposely fluttering her eyelashes

"You know the answer to that" he grinned as they pulled into each other for a kiss

"Do you want me to throw up now or later on?" Xander questioned coldly, no matter what he was still against the idea of Buffy being with Spike

"Xander" Buffy admonished as he shrugged. Spike rolled his eyes _poncy sod _

"Where is everyone?" he asked, looking in the fridge for something to snack on

"Everyone? Here… I think?" Buffy fixed her tank top and looked at Spike who shrugged in response, he had no idea either

"Oh." Buffy mouthed as she saw the note attached to the microwave then gave Spike a dirty look

"What?" he raised his hands up in the air defensively

"You didn't notice this while you were cooking _that?"_ Buffy rolled her eyes as she began reading the note aloud

_Hey B,_

_Rob and I are going out today. I'm going to kill him. Be back by 9… probably. _

_Faith _

"Uh okay" Buffy disregarded that then noticed a second note on the back of the paper; she flipped it over to reveal to messiest writing she'd ever seen.

"Must be Graces" she guessed and began reading the note

_To Everyone I guess, _

_Ashley's gone to drop her little sis off at her parents place, I've gone too because I was bored and none of you were awake, so yeah. Don't know when we'll be back, she thinks it'll take a while. I might come home first. Whatever though. _

_Bye_

"Bird writes like she talks," Spike observed as Buffy nodded in agreement. Anya walked back into the room with the newspaper in her hand

"You're done already? You've only had it for like ten minutes" Buffy didn't remember if Anya was a fast reader or not

"No, I read one story but it was taking too long" she complained

"Can I read it then?" Xander asked quickly before anyone else could

"You can try" she replied angrily and threw the newspaper onto the clean kitchen bench

"Wonder how the girls gonna go with her mom" Spike wondered aloud and Buffy gave him an odd look

"Who Ashley? It'll be fine… wouldn't it?" Buffy suddenly felt a twinge of worry

"If someone had kidnapped Dawn do you think you'd be fine?" Spike pointed out, recalling Buffy's reaction to Glory taking Dawn from her

"Good point" she grimaced "maybe we should wait here for when she comes back"

"Knock harder, no ones going to here that" Grace complained impatiently then pushed Ashley aside and knocked fiercely on the front door of the small suburban home. As far as she knew her mother – Kerry – should be at home

"Or we could bring out the whole neighborhood and have a little party" Ashley sighed careful not to let Grace here her

"Or you could just stop cowering for five seconds then maybe we'd get things"

"Mum!" Ashley cried quickly to shut Grace up as her mother opened the front door. She looked stressed and extremely shocked to see who was waiting at the door, she couldn't find the right words to say

"Listen, before you say anything I just want you to know I'm sorry" Ashley blurted out all at once

"Sorry?" her mother almost laughed then her face flashed to anger "you left without a word, not even a phone call, then Zoë goes missing and all you have to say for yourself is sorry?" her mother was close to tears. She was glad of course to see her children safe, but angry that they had gone away from her

"I know, but there's nothing I could do…" Ashley forgot whatever plan she had come here with and decided to just say what came to her mind

"You could have dropped by, you could have called and told me you were okay!" her mother pointed out "I was alone for a week not knowing if my children were alive or dead or God knows what else!"

"I know! I know and I said I'm sorry!" Ashley fought back the tears, she wouldn't cry while Grace was still there; she didn't know her well enough to. Kerry suddenly noticed Grace standing awkwardly on the front steps with Zoë standing beside her

"Who are you?" Kerry asked in annoyance

"Huh? Oh I mean hey, I'm Grace" she grinned then suddenly came up with an idea "listen I can explain"

"Oh you can? Good tell me how both of my daughters went missing, tell me how I couldn't find them, tell me how they left me alone, if you know so much then please, tell me!" she screamed

"Alone? What about dad?" suddenly fear struck close to home in both Ashley and Zoë, and Grace choked back the sudden anger she held towards her mother and even more so, her own father

"He's gone out for a business trip, if you were at home you might have known that" Ashley was stung by the bitterness in her mothers voice "come in inside, and _you_" she looked pointedly at Grace "can leave our home right now" she hissed. Grace stared wide-eyed at her; in so many ways she hated this woman already. Mainly because she was so painfully reminded of her mother, but because she had no right to push blame around like that without evidence to back it up

"No" Ashley said bluntly, but with determination

"What?" her mother didn't know where this sudden rebellion was coming from

"I said no" Ashley continued "you have every right to be mad at me, but this isn't your life, its mine and I have every right to live it how I want" though she felt strong on the outside, inside she was as frightened as a mouse "I'm not staying here anymore, I'm going to America, I don't know how long for… but that's where I'm needed" she waited for her mother to respond

"They'll take good care of her" Zoë suddenly chimed in and Kerry looked in astonishment

"Who will?" she asked, suddenly confused by the situation

"My friends" Ashley agreed

"Her family" Grace corrected and Ashley shot a look of surprise at her "chickens gotta leave then nest at some point right?" she popped in her own advice

"So that's what I'm going to do" Ashley gulped back the fear "I love you, but that's my decision" she looked her mother in the eye as she and Grace walked back towards her apartment. Grace patted her on the back for the effort, but said nothing as Ashley began to silently cry

"Screw it, let me off" Faith yelled over the winds as Robin turned around and shook his head at her. They were almost at the top of the bridge and their group had stopped several times as Faith threw her minor tantrums. It wasn't really like her to lose her cool, but she could stand being this high up after what had happened

"No, all the way up or you don't get your surprise" he warned her

"Surprise me on dry land, no way am I staying up here" she shook her head furiously back and forth like a child. He grabbed her hand

"You are not leaving me" Faith almost missed the double meaning in his words. The group came to a sudden stop; they were at the top. Faith's fear practically disappeared as she took in the view, for the first time ever, she felt truly alive, truly happy.

"Holy shit!" she threw her head back and laughed and Robin could only smile lovingly at her, watching her watch everything else

"Dude…" she sighed again watched as a bird flew not five meters from where she was standing, she laughed again "this is beautiful" she whispered

"I love you" Robin said back, she flipped around expecting to see his joking smile, but instead met intensity in his eyes she'd never seen before

"Did you bring me here so that I had no choice but to say it back?" she guessed, trying to lighten the mood a little but he grabbed her wrist with a sudden force he'd never used on her before

"Uh what are you doing?" Faith looked around, as she group members remained oblivious to the interaction

"Faith Lehane" he muttered and took her face his hands, her heart sped up

"Mind if I look at the bird again?" she tried to turn but he wouldn't let her

"Let go of me," she ordered

"Never" he said the word with so much force she almost froze

"What are you doing?" she whispered angrily

"Close your eyes" he instructed and despite her uncomfort, trust won her over and she obeyed. She felt his hands fall from her face and suddenly felt the cold winds; she worried of where he went. It was silly but she felt like she relied on him, something Faith never did with men. She could take it anymore and she allowed her eyes to flutter open and in front of her was a simple, yet amazing diamond ring. An engagement ring

"Surprise" he muttered as Faith took the ring from him

"Robin… what is this?" she whispered back examining the ring, ignoring the fear tugging at her heart, she knew what it was

"It's a ring," he pointed out obviously

"Why?" she asked, half hoping it was all just a big joke

"Because I love you" he declared "and I'm not going to lose you" he added and she turned to him, her eyes held something new in them. She'd just realized that Robin held more than just good boyfriend potential, he held hope. Something that was somewhat abstract to her, like a child who just got a brand new toy

"Is this a joke?" she asked

"Only if you say no… I don't want to look stupid in front of these people" he smiled and she honestly felt herself blush

"Yes" she said as clearly as she possibly could

"Yes as in no?" he was clearly confused

"Yes as in yes you retard" she leapt off the stairs and threw herself into his arms, an embrace he wasted no time in returning

"You'll marry me" Robin grinned wider, holding her tight to him and suddenly he heard clapping. They both looked up in surprise as tourists and locals were smiling and clapping them – they had heard

"Oh crap" Faith hid her face in Robins chest as the others began cheering them on

"You know what they want don't you?" Robin chuckled he was enjoying himself now. Faith looked around, bit her lip and kissed him, and for the first time they really, truly kissed as two people would if they were in love.

**I'm so scared about this chapter, I think I went a little OOC with Faith but hopefully you still like it :) **

**I'll hurry with the next chapter, which you guys might hate me for writing, but hey! **

**Reviews! **


	19. Falling in, Falling out

Faith and Robin stood in front of the others as they had just told them about the engagement. Buffy's face was something between shock and disbelief and Spike looked like he was about to burst out into a fit of laughter. Xander was just in denial about it; he'd never pictured Faith settling down with someone, not this young anyway. Anya was smiling up at them, having a strange feeling of déjà vu as she did. Grace was grinning away, knowing that Faith was totally uncomfortable, and Ashley smiled at them kindly. She didn't know them well enough to be as stunned as the others but it was nice to see them happy all the same

"Wow" Xander said, saying the word so slowly it sounded like he was spelling it out

"I second that" Buffy volunteered

"I'm pleased for the both of you" Anya's cheeks were almost pink with joy

"Thanks" Robin said as Faith was too far in shock to really respond

"What kind of a wedding will you have?" Ashley asked curiously

"Weddings have kinds?" Faith looked like she was going to be sick, it wasn't like she was scared or anything, but this was all just happening a little bit too fast

"Well duh, you can have them indoors, outdoors, in a church, in a garden, heck you can even have one in your own backyard if you really want to" Grace explained, she'd been to a backyard wedding before when her mother was still a human.

"Huh… wicked" Faith feigned enthusiasm and Buffy got up and placed a supportive hand on her shoulder

"That's really great, I'm happy for you" she smiled at her fellow slayer, Faith was really changing now, and that was truly great "Faith and Robin, bound together in holy matrimony" Buffy couldn't help but see how the words sounded out loud

"Bound together by holy what-a-mony?" Faith's eyes nearly fell out of their sockets "I don't want to be bound to a person! Who'd want that?" she was clearly freaking out and Robin could only laugh

"They're just trying to scare you" he assured her

"Who's scared?" she retorted by squeezed his hand just that little bit tighter. The phone rang, breaking up the moment the group was having. Ashley sighed

"I'll get it," she grumbled, as the others went on congratulating Faith and Robin. Ashley picked up the phone but was greeted with nothing but silence "hello?" the silence was becoming eerie

"Who's on the phone?" Buffy asked curiously, maybe Giles had had enough of Dawn and wanted her to come home

"Don't know" she shrugged then waited a little longer until she heard another voice, it was female and sounded somewhat high pitched and almost like it was complaining

"Buffy?" the voice whispered through deep breaths

"I'll put her on" Ashley was slightly annoyed that the call wasn't for her, even though this was her house. She handed her little grey telephone to Buffy who placed it against her ear cautiously

"Who is this?" she got right to point

"Buffy!" the voice shrieked then the other line went silent

"Dawn?" Buffy would recognize that yell just about anywhere "Dawn!" she called into the receiver but got no reply

"Buffy someone's in the house, everyone's gone but someone's still here" she whispered as a small slamming noise could be heard in the background "stay here!" Buffy heard Dawn say to someone angrily

"Dawn? Who else is with you?" Buffy suddenly sounded accusative

"No one, its just Nick" Dawn replied like it was nothing at all, Buffy rolled her eyes, she'd worry about it later

"Can you get out of the house?" Buffy asked, she didn't want her sister in the house with a stranger while she couldn't be there to protect her

"No, I mean I could try but Buffy they've gone into the basement" Dawn informed her – so that's what the slamming noise was – someone knew about Angelus

"Dawn run, go to Rick – Nick – go to his house, tell him if anything happens to you I will kill him" Buffy said then the phone dropped out of Dawns hand leaving Buffy with an ear splitting crackling noise. She yelped in pain and accidentally dropped the phone on the tiles, causing it to break

"Hey!" Ashley cried and started picking up the pieces of phone

"What's wrong pet?" Spike questioned, seeing Buffy's frightened expression before anyone else noticed it

"Dawn…" she muttered

"Did something happen?" Xander jumped in, suddenly concerned

"Someone broke in, someone who knows about Angelus" Buffy informed them

"Then we should go" Faith said quickly, happy that the focus had gone off her for now

"Sorry" Buffy said to her quietly

"Its cool B, lets go help the little sis okay?" she grinned and the group ran to gather their bags and Grace glanced at Ashley

"Hurry up and pack, we're not going to wait for you" she warned then ran for her bags too

_The next day – Cleveland _

"Thanks" Buffy said quickly as she, Spike, Grace and Xander jumped into a cab

"Growing up in a magic shop does have its benefits" Grace grinned, she'd managed to score last minute plane tickets by using a small charm on the other passengers, who were now happily on their way to Hawaii

"Reckon you could speed up the car?" Buffy joked and Grace shook her head

"I only know small stuff, and I don't really like using magic, gives me the heebie jeebies" she shrugged as the cab turned another corner. Tailing a fair way behind them was Anya, Faith, Robin and Ashley in their own cab. No one else spoke (except for Xander who was often told to 'shut it' soon after from Spike) as they all anxiously waited to return to the house. Finally after what seemed like the longest car ride in the world, they reached the apartment and the front door was swinging wide open

"Dawn" Buffy mumbled her voice cracking with fear; she threw the car door open and bolted into the house, Grace and Spike followed quickly. It was daylight but still, you couldn't be too careful

"Dawn!" Buffy screamed then noticed that everything was in perfect order, except for the basement door which was hanging off the hinges

"Little bit!" Spike yelled as well, he didn't want to see Dawn hurt anymore than he would want to see Buffy hurt

"Buffy!" Willows voice called from the basement, Buffy and Spike exchanged a look then ran together down the stairs to find Willow. She was lying against the wall with a huge gash on her forehead and her left arm lay limp on the floor

"Willow, oh God, are you okay?" Buffy mentally kicked herself for asking such a stupid question, Willow nodded groggily

"No Buffy, not me" Willow managed to say between breaths then pointed a shaking finger towards the other side of the room

"Giles!" Buffy gasped as Grace quickly bounded over to check for a pulse

"He's fine, just knocked out," she confirmed leaving out the fact that he was bleeding from the mouth; Buffy was under too much stress as it was. Grace could take care of him; she knew she could.

"Willow who was it?" Buffy questioned, lowering her voice as not to hurt Willow too much, noise couldn't be too good for giant head wound

"I didn't think about putting up a protection spell" Willow didn't hear Buffy's question, she was far too out of it "I didn't know… Dawn… where is Dawn?" she wondered

"Dawn is… well I'm not sure, but I think she's okay… for now"

"Red" Spike spoke up, his face was grave with worry, something about this scene was far too familiar for him, a weird sense of déjà vu "who came in here?" he questioned, not bothering to lower his tone

"D… Drusilla" she spat out as Buffy and Spike locked eyes, their fearful expressions were matching, first Darla and now Dru.

Buffy let Willow rest in her room, going to the hospital would raise too many questions that they wouldn't be able to answer. Giles however was in the living room being tended to by Grace. Spike and Buffy stood leaning on opposite walls staring at each other

"Today couldn't get any worse," Buffy complained

"Not really" Spike had to agree, he hadn't been expecting anything like this on the way over

"This is all my fault," she mumbled as tears began to gather in her eyes

"Bollocks" Spike said frankly then moved to stand beside her, she leaned into his side

"Think about it, if I had just told Giles that we had taken care of Darla and then come back here, I could've stopped all this" she cried "instead I decide that a holiday would be so much more fun than my actual responsibilities" she clenched her fists so hard her nails almost dug through her skin completely

"Anyone could have made that mistake" Spike reassured her

"God I'm so selfish" Buffy admitted angrily

"Like hell you are" Spike disagreed "you'll set this right sweetheart, you always do," he promised and then Buffy's eyes flew wide open

"Jenny… Ms Calendar" she muttered, suddenly realizing that she wasn't here, Angelus and Dru must have take her away, or even worse…

"Ask the watcher, he might have seen something" Spike offered and she nodded

"Give me a minute first" she said trying to wipe away the tears Spike said nothing and just held her right against his body, hoping her could take away her worries

Grace was rinsing out a blood-covered cloth when Giles finally came to

"Aha, I told you I could do it" she said smugly to no one in particular and she let the blood mix in with the water. She smiled at Giles "you got knocked out gramps" she teased him a bit to help him feel better in her own little way

"Ah yes, now I truly do feel at home here" Giles joked, although the punch line was somewhat lost on Grace

"Okay" Grace ignored it then looked at his bloodshot eyes

"Where's Jenny, did you save her too?" Giles asked hopefully and Grace's eyebrows creased together in confusion

"Save? Giles we only just got here, we were lucky to find you before you kicked it" she confessed then realized what she had said

"No… you did, I saw you… but not the others" Giles couldn't really explain it well as it was all just a blur to him now, but he remembered seeing Grace's back, and her hair.

"Well it wasn't me, and I'm pretty sure I don't have a look alike" she laughed then stopped when she realized the vengeance demon Gretel did look an awful lot like her, heck she'd even stolen her identity before "shit" she whispered. She hated it, Gretel had caused so many problems and it was all her fault, Darla throwing Faith off the bridge, Anya having no memory and Jenny having weird dreams. It was all because of her, it all happened because someone had pretended to be her…

"Grace?" Giles looked at her in concern, she looked almost blank

"Oh, sorry I'm kinda out of it today" she lied

"So, where is Jenny? I'd like to see her" Giles was obviously scared for Jenny

"Um, I'm not really sure… she wasn't in the basement with you guys…" Grace tried to think of something the sooth him but she didn't want to lie to the old man anymore

"She wasn't?" Giles seemed confused; suddenly Grace had an idea to take his mind of the stressful topic

"Hey you don't know yet!" she slapped her palm against the top of her head

"Know what?" Giles sounded like he was getting angry

"Faith and Robin are getting married!" then off Giles's blank look "see we stayed an extra few days and then Robin proposed up on the bridge, Faiths freaking out of course but I think it'll work out don't you?" she grinned up to him like a child

"You stayed? To stake Darla?" he gave her a pointed look but she missed it

"What? No, Spike staked her like a week ago" Grace huffed a laugh then Giles looked up, not bothering to hide his anger now. Buffy and Spike were standing in the doorway hand in hand, waiting patiently

"Grace, Spike please leave the room, Buffy and I need to talk," he said so calmly that Buffy couldn't help get a little frightened

"Right then" Spike was a bit annoyed that he couldn't hear whatever the watcher had to say – he had a right after all. Grace shut the door and then Giles looked at Buffy his eyebrows were creased in fury

"What's up? You look like you swallowed an elephant" Buffy tried to joke but he shot her a look

"You're a very selfish girl" he insulted her and it hit her close to home, he stood up abruptly to add effect to what he was saying

"What?" was all Buffy could manage to get out

"You risked everyone's safety – Dawns safety - so you could spend a few more days galloping about in Australia with your bloody boyfriend!" his voice was rising and Buffy was shrinking back into her chair

"Giles you're being unfair" she replied quickly

"I swear if anything happens to Jenny then I'll"

"You'll what?" Buffy stood up too "yell at me again?" she crossed her arms

"What's between you and Spike, it won't last" he changed the subject

"Who are you to tell me what might and might not last?" she retorted

"I'm telling you now so you don't have to find out the hard way"

"The hard way?" she repeated incredulously "way to have faith Giles" she was practically seething now as Giles gave her a look of anger she'd never seen before

"You're a stupid girl," he growled and blinked back tears

"And you're a crappy Fa… Watcher" she replied twice as loudly as she stormed towards the door, she couldn't handle this anymore

"Buffy, I know you're mad but"

"I don't want to hear it… you don't know _anything!_" she cried as she pushed the door open "I'll find Jenny and you better not get in my way" she warned then sighed "sometimes Giles I really do hate you" she finished and slammed the door on him

-----

**A/n – **Oh no drama, angst! I had so much trouble making Giles sound mean because I'm so used to him being all gentle and English! Anyway, reviews, comments, criticism's its all good just give me feedback! Oh and I am totally torn with where I'm going next so you'll have to bear with me

Did I mention I FINALLY saw Harry Potter, I ended up not being able to go the weekend it came it out but I went and watched the one after and it was friggen fantastic. It's my second favourite next to prisoner of Azkaban :) And my God was Draco awesome or what??


	20. Everyone Has Something To Hide

**Woo, I've almost hit 60 reviews, you guys are fantastic. Well here we go with good ol' chapter 20, filled with drama, conflict and love! Hurray! **

"What's Gretel got against us anyway?" Xander questioned as everyone looked back at him and he shrugged "well I personally don't get it" he sighed. Spike resisted the urge to say something insulting

"Surely we could find some memory spell and find out from a real ex-demon" Spike said. Remembering when they'd put that stupid worm charm into his brain.

"Only a vengeance demon can undo her own spell" Buffy chimed in, Anya had once said so herself even if she couldn't remember at the present moment

"Which brings us back to square boned" Xander said pessimistically "what I don't get is why Drusilla would take Jenny…" he changed the subject

"Xand, I have a feeling it was Angelus who took her, he's got more reason too," Willow said while taking another sip of her ice water

"Willows right, we just need to find Jenny somehow" Giles spoke in a rather gruff tone without looking up from the floor

"Why don't you do a locator spell?" Ashley suggested

"Good idea, I'll get on that… but we should really find Gretel and make her reverse the spell" Willow said worriedly

"Wont that mean the whole spell would be reversed?" Buffy said quickly, she wasn't about to lose Spike again.

"Well technically you cast the revival spell, it's the others stuff that Gretel did we need to fix" Robin said, always the wise one

"Like Jenny's nightmares" Giles said, as he looked Buffy in the eye, she immediately dodged away from his gaze and glared at the walls

"And my memories" Anya smiled at the prospect of understanding again

"And I would become a vampire again" Spike said glumly and Buffy understood the pain in his eyes without needing to ask.

"Well I need to go get some supplies" Willow said then looked over at Buffy and Spike "wanna come with?" she offered, she had a feeling Spike would want to be out in the sun as much as possible now. Spike nodded and Buffy smiled knowingly at her best friend

"Me too!" Grace said suddenly as she jumped off the dining table she was sitting on

"You sure? It's just magic shopping" Willow didn't seem to understand the appeal that held next to sitting around and researching

"Positive" she grinned "besides some of my stuffs still there" she hinted

"Right then, off we go" Spike looked outside, the sun was still high in the sky, it was almost 1.00 so he couldn't waste any time in the shadows.

"Faith?" Buffy called back at the last minute "could you call Nicks house and see if Dawns there? She's not picking up her phone" she asked, Faith smiled in understanding and then shut the front door. Buffy took his hand as they walked off with Willow and Grace following behind them

Robin was in the living room talking loudly with the others. Faith watched from a crack in the door then bit her lip. She had no idea if what she was doing would work, but she couldn't help feeling nervous about things, could she? She crept over to the phone in the kitchen and picked up the little notebook next to the phone. It had numbers of everyone Buffy or Dawn would ever need to call. She'd call Nick after she'd found out what she needed to know. Finally she found the page of numbers she was really after. She punched them in carefully, not wanting to hit a seven when she meant to hit an eight instead. She held the phone to her ear and listened to it ring

"Hello" a somewhat exotic voice answered her like they knew she would call

"Hi… are you a seer?" Faith questioned in a barely audible whisper

"Yes, you are in need of assistance?" she asked

"Pretty much yeah" Faith almost laughed "I needed to know… if I should go through with a wedding or not" she gulped, hoping to God that Robin wasn't listening

"You have doubts"

"Yeah… so what? Just tell me do you see danger ahead or what?" Faith wasn't sure what she wanted to hear them say… anything would be good

"You can jump through the ring of fire or you can douse it with water… some burns however do not cause hurt" the woman almost sounded like she was grinning

"Fire? There's gonna be fire at the wedding?" Faith would have yelled if she weren't being so cautious in the first place

"That lies in your hands now" the woman replied

"My hands are going to be set on fire? Or my hands will set fire to my… stop being vague!" Faith complained then the see hung up the phone and left Faith standing in the kitchen with her mouth wide open. Suddenly Robin stepped in the room with a concerned look on his face

"Did you get through?" he asked curiously

"Get through? To what? What are you talking about?" she forgot about the other phone call she was supposed to be making

"Nick" Robin drawled out the word, giving Faith a look of utter concern

"Oh right yeah I was just doin' that now" she laughed a little hysterically as Robin nodded in confusion and left the room. Faith sighed and began dialing the new number with shaking fingers

"Yes?" a boy laughed as he answered the phone and Faith immediately knew he didn't just wake up happy. Or maybe he had, but either way she'd heard too many guys laugh like that

"Hi" she now sounded almost venomous as she found out that Dawn had indeed spent the night with him, but she was – more or less – in safe hands for now

"Oh, holy water" Buffy examined the bottles on the shelves "newly blessed too" she found it sad how that intrigued her

"Yeah and look at this, Rabbits feet, buy 3 get the fourth for free!" Willow was awfully chipper now that there was magic sale going on right under her nose

"And though this is terribly exciting, don't you think we can go yet?" Spike groaned, shopping it turned out, was not his thing – human or vampire

"Give us a minute" Buffy replied gazing into a large tub of looked to be tadpoles but there was a sign above them saying _Do not touch – Cursed _

"Yeuch!" Buffy looked away, slightly afraid of being near cursed tadpoles

"Gracie? How's it going up there?" Willow called up the wooden staircase up to the small room where Grace had once lived for so long

"Fine! Hang on!" she yelled back

"Take your time!" Willow grinned, and happily began looking at the book section

"Bloody hell" Spike jumped when he realized that he was leaning against a large wooden cross, a little blonde haired girl giggled as he jumped, he glared at the girl till she ran back to her mother

"Its just a cross" Buffy laughed at him and he glared at her too

"A bloody big _wooden_ cross!" he exclaimed

"Oh no, better run now before it gets ya!" she laughed as Spike whacked her playfully across the head and she laughed even more

"Found it!" Willow held up the items she needed to create a locator spell and grinned in triumph

"We can go now!" Spike said thankfully when Grace bounded down the stairs with a small suitcase in hand

"Not yet" she said quickly dashing any hopes Spike had of leaving the store while it was still bright outside, he groaned in defeat "I just have a few things here and there I need to pick up" she grimaced at Spikes annoyed look

"You guys can head back and I'll meet you there" she said quickly

"What about Angel and Dru?" Willow said worriedly, clutching her bag of supplies that she could thankfully get free of charge since Grace was somewhat the owner now

"Nothing the littlest slayer cant handle" Spike grinned, hopeful again

"I'm not little" Grace snapped at him playfully

"Space-efficient slayer?" he joked then got kicked in the shins by both Buffy and Grace at the same time in separate shins.

"We'll see you back home okay?" Buffy smiled at her and Grace gave her thumbs up. She waved goodbye as her friends left the shop. She sighed in relief then quickly started rummaging through the bookshelves until she found what she needed

_Charms and Curses – Creating and Reversing – Advanced Volume _

"Score" she mumbled as she saw the last of the browsers leave the store too. She took out her little yellow sticky pads and began writing down a spell and its instructions. When she finished she began frantically searching the shelves for ingredients she would need. She put everything she would need into her suitcase and then made for the door. She glanced down at the first sticky note there first line read _Takes 6-7 weeks to prepare – must have raven feathers – crow feather dangerous and will botch curse _

"I'm going to make everything right again…" she mumbled, ignoring the tugging feel of guilt in her heart. She pulled her suitcase out of the store and slammed the door "I'm going to make everything right…" she repeated again and began walking back home

**Sorry for the delay I came down with an annoying case of '**_**chronic appendicitis' **_**which is like the slower, more painful version of normal appendicitis and the sucky side is that I still have it! But enough whining, reviews would be great since I'm a little unsure about this chapter. But I do however like the last part **

**Any guesses on what Grace is going to do? Hehehe **


	21. Whispers

****

Okay I have about another 13 chapters or so left of this fic, so enjoy chapter 21! Also Grace's thing will not be as important for a while, its sort of just going to linger there for a while. Onwards! Also hurray 60 reviews! Small achievement! I love you guys keep em coming!

Four days had passed and everyone was still spending the nights at Buffy's apartment. It made too much sense not too, if they went outside there was no telling who would end up like Kennedy did. Faith, Grace and Anya were sitting on the living room couch watching documentaries on various endangered animals when Anya broke the silence

"Why are we watching this again?" she asked, seemingly unable to take her eyes off the TV screen

"Because its educational" Grace replied without emotion and Faith nodded

"Because there's nothing else to do," Faith corrected

"Well yeah and there's the fact that no ones around" she complained

"Where did they go? Its almost dark" Anya sounded slightly worried

"Spike and Buffy went to go food shopping, Robin, Xander and Ashley went to go enroll Ashley and Grace in the high school" Grace made a noise of pain at that notion "Giles is at his apartment and Dawn is" the door flew open at that exact moment "right here now" Faith informed them with a bored tone of voice

"I though Ashley was in her first year of university?" Anya questioned, she remembered Ashley talking about her psychology course there

"Yeah she's doing some TAFE program, teachers aid type of stuff" Grace explained, making a mental note to not do psychology as a subject.

"How'd you know all that?" Grace wondered, she'd never remember all that

"Note on the fridge" she explained and Grace laughed and nodded. Dawn closed the door and then ran towards her bedroom

"Hi Dawn, good to see you Dawn!" Faith yelled loudly down the hall as Dawn slammed her bedroom door on them.

"Should we go see what's wrong?" Grace questioned and Faith sighed

"If we have to" she jumped off the couch and scratched her stomach, then she and Grace made their way down to her room. Music was playing loudly in her room and Grace recognized it right away

"Ah Hannah Montana, the music of death" Grace muttered spookily when the door flew open and Dawn was glaring daggers at them

"Its not Hannah Montana, its Miley Cyrus!" she corrected and Grace just rolled her eyes. Faith let herself into Dawns room and Grace walked away to go watch TV with Anya. Faith grabbed a purple love heart shaped pillow and started twirling it around in her hands for something to do

"So, you wanna tell me what's up?" Faith asked casually when she suddenly smelled something "and by the way you may want to open a window, for a girly room it smells wicked gross" she plugged her nose dramatically. Without warning Dawn slumped down onto the floor and began wailing

"I… can't… handle… this," she sobbed, her breath breaking after every word. Faith didn't know what to do in this situation; it was somewhat awkward

"I didn't mean to say gross, but hey a bit of air freshener and who's gonna notice?" she tried desperately to make her stop crying

"Who's not gonna notice? Oh God I'll get kicked out!" Dawn was screaming now and the tears made red stain marks down her face making her look like a drowning rat

"Um… its just a smell… I don't think Buffy's _that _harsh"

"I don't know what to do!" she cried

"Are we talking about the smell anymore because I'm seriously confused" Faith started walked around the room trying to think of something to lighten the mood

"Hey how about that Nick huh? What base are we talking?" Faith asked excitedly, boy talk was probably the only lifeline she had left right now

"Base-he-hates-my-stinking-guts" she mumbled miserably

"Didn't seem like it to me" Faith replied

"No he does! Ever since _that_ he wont even look at me anymore" she bawled

"Ever since what?" Dawn was being far too vague for Faith to understand anymore

"What do you think? You've got more experience than anybody… it probably not hard for you!" she complained as her tears started to slow down

"More… ooh… your talking about _that_" she realized

"Of course I am" Dawn said looking bewildered

"Oh… okay then" Faith didn't understand why she was getting so upset – the first time really never matters – or at least not to her it didn't. She resumed walking about the room thinking of things to say when she approached Dawns desk she saw something rather… interesting.

"Dawn" Faith called her over calmly and showed her what she had found

"Don't tell anyone! Especially not Buffy!" she pleaded quickly

"I won't tell but you're gonna want some help with this" Faith couldn't help it; she didn't want Dawn to be left alone for this task.

* * *

"Okay so since your starting late?" Robin handed Ashley a yellow folder full of homework and information about the schools activities. The three of them stood in the middle of Robin's office, which Xander was marveling at the order of everything

"Faith doesn't beat you up right?" he asked out of the blue

"Uh… no?" Robin was slightly confused now "why?" he asked suspiciously

"Its just this whole room is very _Sleeping with the Enemy_-esque, even your folders are in alphabetical order" Xander said pointing to the bookcase

"Xander do you wanna wait outside?" Ashley joked as if he were a little kid misbehaving

"Shutting up" he replied with a small grin

"Right well you guys wait here, don't touch anything," he demanded and then left the room without waiting for reply

"Where's he going?" Ashley asked Xander. Xander chuckled and then took a folder out of the bookcase and began flipping through

"Trust me, you'll wanna be surprised" he fought the urge to just tell her

"Trust me, I don't wanna be surprised, after the whole Darla thing, surprises just do not seem as fun anymore" she half joked, though she really didn't want something else going wrong like that

"Okay… but you cannot go telling everybody okay?" Xander shifted his eyes like he were about to dispatch some top secret mission

"Okay" Ashley shrugged, ruining Xander's little James Bond moment

"He's going to book the gymnasium," Xander whispered

"Oh heavens forefend!" Ashley whispered back with mock shock

"For the wedding!" that sentence shut Ashley up. She thought about that for a moment

"Uh… I don't think a school gym is the ultimate wedding spot… not exactly what girls dream about" she felt a little bad having to break that news to Xander

"Faiths not exactly a typical girl" Xander reminded her, Ashley had to nod in agreement, he did have a good point after all

"Wait how come you knew first?" Ashley asked, she didn't know Robin and Xander were friends

"Because I'm his best man," he informed her

"How are you his best man? In what way are you his best man?" she didn't bother to whisper now "he's closer with Giles than he is with you!" Ashley barely saw Robin and Xander talk to each other for more than five seconds

"Yeah but Giles is going through enough right now, what with Jenny being all _gone_" he pointed out and she nodded knowingly

"So really what your saying is you were his second option?" she grinned

"Shut up"

* * *

"I can hear the ocean," Drusilla sang as she swayed on the cold metal floors

"That because we're on a boat Dru" Angelus said as he walked down the stairs to greet Drusilla with a kiss on the neck

"Clever daddy" she hummed as Angelus looked up

"Dru?" he started softly "where's the teacher?"

"The tide came and washed the sand away… all away" she replied dreamily "and the silly wriggling jellyfish used it nasty stingers" she clicked her fingers and made a zapping noise with her teeth

"Did you drown her or something?" Angelus asked, all the metaphors were lost on him

"No" she giggled

"What's with the jellyfish talk then, hm?" he encouraged her to continue

"The naughty watcher came and took the mean teacher," she explained again

"Why'd you let him do that?" he asked, his voice sounded sweet, but underneath it he was boiling with rage

"He had nasty stingers he did" she nodded to herself then turned to Angelus with a pout plastered on her lips "naughty red shocks all over" she chimed as she held up her hands that looked like they had been stuck in boiling water

"Holy water?" he asked her quickly, she whimpered and nodded "Bastard!" Angelus yelled and kicked the walls of the ship

"Don't be cross" she pleaded and Angelus whipped around to face her

"We'll get him for this… no ones steals from me, NO ONE" he barked and Drusilla started bouncing up and down from excitement

"I love it when you yell" she laughed and gazed at the walls dreamily "but the bells… the bells don't want t be disturbed!" she shivered and Angelus ran to her side

"What do you see?" he asked, hoping that it had better be good

"Oh fire! Pretty dancing fire!" she chorused and put her hands to her ears

"Fire? Dru your gonna have to do better than that!" he warned her angrily

"They're going to be party" she grinned

"A party" he repeated, sometimes he just didn't know what was going on inside her head

"No" she chided playfully "a wedding, inside a school" she stared at the walls again, like she could see it all now

"Who's wedding?" Angelus' first thought was that it must be Buffy's, but somewhere deep down he refused to believe Buffy would marry a moron like Spike

"The slayers" she replied like it wasn't obvious enough already

"Buffy?" Drusilla shook her head

"No, the other one" she laughed like she were playing a game

"Faith?" she clapped her hands in applause then pouted again

"Can we go?" she asked innocently

"To the wedding?" Angelus seemed to see a plan behind attending Faith's wedding and he grinned his evil grin and Drusilla "we'll be there" he promised

"But we must be back before the clock strikes 12" she laughed

"Oh I'm sure it won't take too long" he put a finger to his chin as if to ponder the possibilities and Drusilla rubbing her middle and giggled like a child on her first day of school

"And we'll arrive in a pumpkin carriage!"

**Wow, I've never fit so many references into one chapter. I hope everyone gets them! I'm a bit of a movie buff so I don't want to confuse people! **

**Please review! You know you want to :) **


	22. Dark Hearts

**Okay I just wanted to say that my favourite chapter is coming up soon and it's a two parter! As the writer of this fic I think you're all going to love. I've been looking forward to writing it for months and now its almost done and I'm totally psyched about it! I'm too hyper right now… read on brave readers! **

"Has anyone seen Giles?" Willow wondered in the middle of dinner, which Ashley and Anya had managed to cook up for the group

"Not since yesterday" Xander said poking at his mashed potato with an odd expression

"Weird" Grace mumbled eyeing her baby corn dangerously, like it would sooner come alive before becoming edible

"Who cares" Buffy said under her breath, only Spike who was sitting next to her at the table heard. Buffy had told him about the falling out she had with Giles and he supported her of course, though he had a thing or two to say to Giles himself. He placed a hand on her leg under the table to help her feel better. It helped for the most part, but she was still hurting from the harsh words echoing in her mind

"Hey Will," Buffy snapped her head up, determined to take her mind off a certain Watcher "how's that spell going?" she asked with a slightly forced smile

"I did the spell but the weird thing is, it says she's at Giles, which probably means that he went to get her himself" Willow deducted pushing her plate away from her. It seemed everyone was reluctant to eat food from someone who had no memory of how to cook.

"The Watcher went alone? Stupid git, last time he tried that bloody trick Angel tied him up and tortured the living hell out of him for hours!" Spike pointed out, suppressing a laugh

"You don't think that…" Xander couldn't finish the sentence; he remembered how beaten up Giles was when he had helped him escape from Angelus' mansion

"No, I doubt she'd stay at his place alone" Willow said quickly and Buffy just shrugged, if Giles wasn't going to talk to her then she wasn't going to talk to him. It was childish but she couldn't help it.

"How's the food?" Ashley asked, popping her head around the kitchen door, the group exchanged glances and quickly took small nibbles at the food while Ashley grinned successfully

"What did they say?" Anya called curious to see how her culinary skills were

"They love it" Ashley said rather obliviously to the disgusted look on Grace's face as she forced down another carrot.

"So Faith," Grace began as Ashley and Anya resumed cleaning up the kitchen "have you given any more thought to the wedding?" she asked, half choking on her food

"Huh?" Faith was tearing up from the baby corn that felt more like rocks sliding down her throat "oh… not really" she admitted then Robin cleared his throat and stood up

"I have though" he smiled lovingly at Faith who smiled awkwardly back

"I've booked out the school gymnasium so we could have a nice low key wedding and I've even found someone to host the whole thing so we can be properly registered as a married couple" he boasted as Faith grimaced a tiny bit and then grinned up at her soon-to-be-husband

"That's… great" she replied and he nodded in agreement

"I've chosen a best man too," he added quickly then Xander stood up proudly and everyone started clapping, even Anya and Ashley were cheering them on in the kitchen.

"I need to take a breather…" Faith whispered in a frenzy of panic and Buffy followed her cautiously, she hadn't missed the look on Faith's face every time weddings were mentioned. Faith went and stood out the front of the house and Buffy shut the front door gently behind them

"That's pretty full on huh," Buffy said as Faith clutched her stomach like she might throw up at moments notice

"You have no idea B" Faith shook her head, like this was all just one big crazy dream

"Oh I think I have _some_ idea" Buffy assured her as they sat down on the driveway and Buffy gave Faith a stern but friendly look

"Do you think you can go through with it?" she asked as Faith looked up at her with wide eyes

"Of course I can! I mean, I will… it's just its all so quick" she muttered placing her hands on the sides of her head "I thought couples were meant to wait until the time was right… or at least until they'd been together a year" she finished, though she and Robin had just over five months since they'd met it was still somewhat rushed

"Some couples don't even wait one month" Buffy informed Faith and got no response beside a careless shrug

"Do you think you'll back out?" Buffy asked, remembering back to Anya and Xanders wedding and how badly things turned out that day when Xander left. She didn't really want to see a repeat performance

"No way" Faith said, suddenly much more sure of herself "I don't ever back out of anything I get into… I'm a woman of my word" she insisted

"Fair enough… I was just checking" Buffy said defensively then Faith took a breath

"Thanks B" she said as the two stood up and Buffy smiled warmly at her "you've been so nice to me for no real reason… it means a lot that you've got my back" she admitted then Buffy just laughed

"Well soon Robins gonna have your back" she pointed out "or at least have rights to half of it" she joked and Faith laughed lightly at this

"Buffy?" she said carefully "do you want to be my maid of honor?" she asked sheepishly, she didn't know anyone else she trusted enough to ask this to. Buffy was shocked at first but then smiled so wide her cheeks started to go pink

"I'd love to" she answered as the two slayers, two friends, walked back inside laughing and joking around like old times.

"Dawn… maybe we should just go back to my place and…" Nick said shyly as Dawn turned around glared daggers at him

"No!" she yelled, "you are coming to the house whether you like it or not buster!" she said through gritted teeth, stomping down the footpath with her apartment clearly in view. When they reached the driveway Xander and Grace were throwing away plate after plate of food. Grace held her nose as Xander whispered something into her ear; she hit him playfully in the arm and then laughed as said something else. Dawn couldn't help but wonder if there was something going on between them… they did look sort of close, she shook it off, they were probably just mucking around as friends do. Xander looked up and noticed Dawn trudging towards them

"Dawn!" he waved and she grimaced at him then motioned for Nick to hurry up

"Oh hey!" Grace grinned at them cheekily, then her face dropped when she saw who was behind him. She looked like she'd swallowed a wasp; she then ran forward and tackled Nick to ground.

"Grace!" Dawn shrieked as Grace started pounding away at her boyfriends face

"Gray… I know what this looks like" Nick said, hardly even noticing the fact that Grace was punching him in the jaw over and over.

"Nick, oh my gosh are you okay?" Dawn yelled worriedly and Graces eyes flashed with fresh rage

"Is that what you call yourself now? First it was Luke, then it was Phil then it was every other stupid name you could think of until I found you out!" Grace let her fists dig into his chest as she sat straddling both sides of his waist with tears crawling down her face.

"What are you talking about? Get off of him!" Dawn screamed as the front door swung open and the scoobies came rushing out. Dawn didn't realize how loud they were being until Buffy ran up to her sister's side and eyed her boyfriend

"Why is Grace beating up Nick?" she asked suspiciously

"I don't know!" Dawn said as she suddenly felt a crushing guilt for bringing him here in the first place. Grace whipped her head around and her cheeks were stained a pale pink from the overflow of tears

"How could you not know? Are you mentally retarded?" Grace spat and Buffy couldn't help but stick up for her little sister

"Grace, that's enough, just tell us what's going on," Buffy asked softly as Grace looked like she was about to go mental

"You mean Dawn hasn't told you yet? Good old Dawnie hasn't figured it out?" Grace growled angrily at the two of them, she was hardly herself anymore

"Figured out what? That you're a psycho?" Dawn hissed back

"That your boyfriends a supremacy demon!" she yelled at them as Nick groaned and placed a hand on Grace's elbow. She was far too ready for this however and she put both hands around his throat, not enough to kill him, but enough to shut him up.

"Your boyfriends a _demon?" _Buffy suddenly turned her glare to Dawn.

"No! Well I don't think so… are you?" she asked weakly to Nick

"Well yeah but its not like I chose to be this way" he said, trying to look as innocent as possible but Buffy and Grace were having none of that

"Tell that to my father you son of a bitch" Grace said but her voice wavered slightly when she spoke of her father. Ashley recalled how dark Grace's expression had become last time she mentioned her father… but what did Nick have to do with her father?

"Oh right, how daddy anyhow?" Nick chuckled his cruel chuckle as Grace got up off him and turned around and stormed back inside

"What the hell is a supremacy demon?" Buffy directed her question at Dawns guilty looking figure but it was Spike who answered her question

"Nasty buggers, big into the mystical control" Spike informed her, then continued due to the confused looks of all the faces surrounding him "something about the demon DNA, once they touch your skin they can control you, or even bring you deep dark desires to come true just because you want it enough" he explained

"So like hypnosis without the swirly coins" Buffy guessed and Spike nodded darkly

"But some desires are best kept in the dark" he finished, wondering what Grace's desire could have been.

"Dawn" Buffy turned to her sister trying her hardest to look fair but it took a lot of effort "what exactly happened between you and Nick?"

"Promise not to get pissed?" Dawn pleaded then when Buffy just looked at her expectantly she decided to just spill it out

"Dawn no, don't" Nick warned her, his voice suddenly a tone darker

"Buffy…I'm pregnant…" she revealed and Buffy just stood there, too shocked to form a reply. Spike on the other hand was more thinking about the demon part of the news they had all just heard. It was clear to him that Grace and Nick had some sort of history and some of it involved her father. He just couldn't imagine what is could be that would cause her to lose her senses like that

_4 years ago – New York City, Grace's family home _

_He pushed her roughly against the walls as they continued laughing and kissing their way to the couch. It was cold so they both wore gloves and scarves but soon enough those were lying on the floor and Grace was taking off her own coat, revealing a yellow tank top that complimented her light brown hair. he played with it while she gazed longingly into his eyes _

"_You have the most amazing hair" he breathed and she almost melted inside _

"_I've been thinking of dying it… for a change" she told him as his hands scaled up her sides, itching to take off the yellow shirt. _

"_I think that would look nice" he smirked as her lips once again came crashing down on his and muttered his name as they descended onto the couch not parting lips for even a minute _

"_Luke…" she whispered affectionately as her front door crashed open, her mother and father entered loudly, bickering away as always. Grace rolled her eyes pulled Luke (or rather Nick) off the couch and rolled her eyes at her parents when they stopped in the middle of the room glancing at them and the clothes on the floor _

"_Typical" her mother spat "we leave you alone for an hour and you come home with the trashiest guy you can find and ruin my good couch!" she yelled angrily at Grace and stormed towards the kitchen "I need a drink" she growled even though the stench of alcohol indicated that she'd already had more than enough to drink _

"_Look what you've done now you good for nothing slut" her father yelled and she just had to stand there and take it _

"_Its not my fault" she retorted "maybe if you guys talked like normal couples instead of drinking away your problems this would never have happened!" she screamed at him and he turned and left the room clearly saying "some days I wish you were never born you ungrateful cow" as he went upstairs to his bedroom. Her mother and father slept in separate rooms, they couldn't stand being near each other _

"_God I hate him…" Grace muttered slumping down into the couch next to Luke, or Nick as he was soon to start calling himself _

"_Then why don't you do something about it?" Luke asked seriously as he rested a hand above her heart. Seeing the colour in her eyes slowly fade and turn to black he smirked, he knew it had worked. Whatever her darkest desire was at the time now she was about to act it out, she just needed a little nudge in the right direction. He followed silently behind her (keeping a safe distance) as she went into the kitchen and pulled out the biggest knife she could find and ignored her mother's questions as she left the room. She walked up the stairs in what almost seemed like a zombie state of mind with the knife clutched tightly in her small bony hands. She threw open the door to her fathers room and charged at him, throwing the knife wildly, slashing anywhere she could reach. He barely had time to react when the knife came in contact with his throat. He fell to the floor and Grace suddenly snapped to her senses again and looked down in horror of what she had just done _

"_Oh God… dad" she whispered looking at his limp body _

"_What have you done! What did you do?" her mother squealed running over to kneel down next to the body _

"_I don't know" Grace cried and backed up against the wall, every inch of her shaking in fear, afraid of what she might do next "I don't know how I did this… I don't remember… I can't remember!" she wailed hoping she could just wake up from this dreadful nightmare _

"_What is wrong with you?" her mother questioned through loud, choked sobs _

"_I don't know!" Grace replied unable to stop shaking she felt her eyelids drop and she passed out onto the carpet, not 5 meters away from her father's dead body. _

**A/N – okay I scared myself in writing this chapter, but I was watching criminal minds and I wanted to go for something scary like that. I hope this explains somewhat Grace's untrusting personality and why she's so hesitant to making friends. Reviews! I love my reviewers and I give cyber hugs to you all! **


	23. Getting What You Give

"Why wouldn't you tell me something like this?" Buffy questioned after Dawn had finished confessing about her pregnancy with Nick's child (who happened to be demon)

"Because…" Dawn mumbled, placing a hand on her stomach, a very motherly gesture for someone who was only barely eighteen. Buffy and Dawn were sitting at their small dining table on opposite ends with Nick leaning on the wall near the kitchen

"That's not an answer," Buffy narrowed her eyes at her little sister, she didn't know how to be supportive about this without getting slightly angry

"Just 'cause you're my sister doesn't mean I have to tell you everything!" Dawn snapped at her, stomping out of the room angrily. Buffy sighed and ran her fingers through her hair when Spike walked in the room. His face showed nothing but concern for Buffy she looked like she was close to her breaking point

"Can I go?" Nick asked loudly as Spike took a seat next to Buffy, who threw a glare towards Nick

"Go? This whole thing is your fault, no way am I letting you go!" she hissed

"Love," Spike breathed and rested a hand on her shoulder

"God I am such a mess," she laughed when she caught her reflection in the window opposite her "mum made this whole parenting thing look so easy." she finished, her voice trembled when she spoke of Joyce – Spike picked up on that

"_Why_ can't I go?" Nick persisted as Grace walked into the room; she'd taken a shower. She now had soaking wet black hair and a dark green tank top with a medium length denim skirt. It would have been a cute outfit, had she not looked so angry at the time. Her eyes were fixed on Nick, she had no emotion on her face, and she was completely blank.

"Why?" Grace answered her tone was too calm from her previous outburst that night, she tucked a wet clump of hair behind her ear and laughed bitterly "because as soon as you leave this room I will kill you." she replied darkly, neither Buffy nor Spike noticed the fact that she was completely serious.

"Touchy aren't we." Nick grinned smugly at her and without warning Grace reached for a ballpoint pen on the table and drove it into his stomach with everything she had. Spike got up instantly and held her back by the arms when she kicked him away from her. She glared at all three of them and ran out the front door

"I should go get her," Buffy decided making for the door too when Spike stopped her

"Are you really thinking that running after her is going to do anything?" he questioned, he knew she knew better than that "the girls halfway out of her mind, best you leave her alone for a while" he pointed out, if there was one thing he'd learned from Buffy was that when a girl wanted to be alone, she wanted to be alone.

"No I'm not but I'm sure running into Angelus isn't really on her mind either, she wont be careful if she's alone" she replied and at the mention of Angel he dropped her arm from his grasp

"You really can't stop thinking about him can you?" he asked, rather angry with her now

"What?" Buffy snapped back when Nick groaned from where he was now laying on the ground, bleeding all over the carpet "shut up!" she said quickly when Willow walked into the room and ran over to him

"What happened?" she asked worriedly, she knew about Dawns pregnancy but she didn't know that Nick was a demon.

"Nothing." Spike replied, far too quickly "I'll go find Grace, you stay here and… think about Angel or something." He snapped at Buffy and she couldn't help but be stung a little from his words. Spike walked out the front door, slamming it roughly behind him before anyone could question him.

"Uh! Buffy!" Willow stammered when Nick's hand rose out to touch Willows cheek. Buffy dragged Willow away from Nick before he could come in contact with her skin; she knew how bad it could get. Dawn had gotten pregnant just because he had made her want it bad enough.

"He's a demon, Will," she informed as Willow nodded

"Makes sense, his aura's all funny." She tilted her head at him like she was looking at an unusual inkblot. Buffy almost smile but her thoughts were stuck on Spike's earlier remarks, they were rude but they had truth behind them.

"What happened with Grace?" Willow inquired when Anya walked into the room looking slightly awkward with a washcloth in her hands

"Xander was wondering… and so was I if we could stay a little longer until all the… life threatening danger clears up," she looked at them both expectantly when Buffy shrugged

"That's fine with me," she answered as Anya nodded and walked back into the kitchen to tell Xander "but you can home during the day right?" she questioned hopefully, she didn't really mind them being here but the house was getting more people than places to fit them lately

"Sure." Anya replied and left the door open so Buffy decided to ignore Willow's question until a more suitable time. However neither Willow not Buffy saw Nick silently creep out the front door during their short conversation.

-

"You've never used a longbow?" Ashley questioned while gripping hers in her hand she aimed it at Xander jokingly, though her backed away anyway. She and Xander were in the basement to escape the awkwardness but neither one of them seemed to be able to start a conversation with each other.

"I'm more of a stake-and-axe guy really," he replied tripping over his own feet.

"Stakes are good, but just wait till you strike one down from 50 meters away, it's such a rush!" she grinned then put it down to give Xander a little break "so have you guys found anymore of the new slayers?" she asked, curiosity getting the best of her.

"No, but ones bound to show up sooner or later. We were even thinking about spreading out and seeking them for ourselves." He informed her when she laughed

"Gee's, can you imagine… Eskimo slayers, country-hick slayers… gotta catch em all!" she joked, wondering what category she fell into

"Australian psychology student slayers." He laughed and she glared at him

"Nothing wrong with psychology! And I could diagnose all your mental disorders in less than 4 minutes, so don't push me buster," she poked his forehead

"And where would Grace fit in?" Xander laughed, he didn't know why he always ended up befriending slayers but it was becoming a pattern.

"Uh… weird-techno-punk-nose-pierced-slightly-insane-bitchy-slayer?" Ashley meant it as a joke – sort of.

"Am I missing some hatred or something?" Xander asked though he wasn't really interested in girly squabbles

"She's just… she acts so superior, like just cause she's so confident that she should rule the world! All hail Princess Grace!" Ashley grumbled, fixing another arrow into her crossbow with more force than necessary

"I'm not exactly a psychology student but wouldn't that be jealousy?" Xander pointed out when Ashley rolled her eyes and aimed her crossbow at the target on the other side of the room.

"I'm _not _jealous!" she denied bitterly, closing one eye to get a better look at her target

"Granted you're bitter and full of loathing for no good reason but you're not jealous." Xander tried to lighten it up a bit but Ashley just tensed and shot an arrow clean into the wall, completely missing her target.

"How about you drop it, I'm training." She insisted as her hands clenched tightly around the grip on the longbow.

"Maybe I should get out of your way." Xander guessed from her sudden mood change she wouldn't really want his company any time soon

"Maybe you should stay out of my way." She replied sharply as he hurried up the stairs before she decided to shoot an arrow in his direction.

-

Grace leaned against the bus stop bench as she wiped her nose again. She had finished crying but that didn't stop her nose from running every five seconds. She cursed herself for not stealing a jacket or something on her way out, it was freezing out tonight. She fell silent until she realized her situation. Alone, at night, with two of the worst vampires recorded running loose in the very town she was in right now. It wasn't exactly a comforting thought to have. She heard a large metallic clanging sound from far behind her and she kept her eyes focused on the shrubs, just in case Angelus were to jump out. She took a deep breath and told herself to stop over-reacting then jumped as she saw a bid fly over the telephone wires.

"Way to flip out Grace," she growled to herself as the bird let out a high-pitched tweet. Suddenly two police cars and an ambulance came speeding down the road and she saw them take a sharp left. She couldn't help herself; she wanted to know what had happened. Curiosity was probably her worst trait – next to her constant lying and random outbursts of anger of course. She quickly took off in the direction of the police sirens and found they were parked out the front of an unfamiliar alleyway. She saw a rather gullible looking officer and she walked over to him with her hands linked together to emphasize the look of innocence she was shooting for. Quickly taken out her nose ring and placing it in her skirt pocket

"Excuse me Mister?" she tugged on his shirt like a seven year old would, she was lucky she had such childish features

"Oh. Are you lost or something?" the man asked, obviously uncomfortable

"I cant find my mommy… did you see which way she went?" she blinked her eyes until tears appeared in the corners of them

"Sorry… if you tell your address to one of the nice officers though I'm sure they could get you home" he offered when Grace pretended to be distracted by the crime scene all of a sudden

"What's that?" she pointed down the alleyway where she could see doctors picking up a limp looking body – so someone had been murdered.

"Its nothing you need to see," the man tried to block her view with his hand but Grace zipped under his hand and skipped over to the scene like a child at the zoo. She stopped skipping as soon as she saw the victims face.

"Nick?"

**And cliffhanger! Hah! Anyway updates might get kind of weird (not slow but not in any real order) because I recently started another new fic (a Dramione for those who might be interested) and I need to update that while still writing for this. So bare with me folks! **


	24. Unity

**Okay, 6 chapters to go (or so is my plan!) so enjoy while you still can and let me know if you want to see sequel at the end 'kay?**

"So it'll just be close friends right?" Faith asked again as she looked around the gymnasium, the only other person in it was Grace who Spike had brought home 3 days ago. Neither of them said a word, though Grace had revealed her past to Spike and she trusted him to say nothing of it to the others. The wedding was exactly one week away as Robin had insisted that they didn't need more than three weeks to plan one small little wedding. Faith on the other hand wanted to drag it out as long a possible – maybe a few more years if she really pushed.

"Right, and a preacher, but its okay he's local and Willow checked him out," Robin assured her, misjudging her look of fear

"So, we'll just kiss, go home and be done with the whole thing right?" Faith wondered if she could convince everyone to just come at the wrong time, but then thought better of it, this wedding meant a lot to Robin.

"No, after this, I have a place to take you," Robin made a gesture that showed her that it was going to be a surprise and he wasn't going to give her any clues.

"Do you think we could play basketball after the wedding? Cause all the equipments out and all," Grace smiled longingly as the net, just dying to play around for a while.

"No." Robin replied bluntly when the doors opened and Spike and Buffy walked in, looking surprised at the size of the hall

"It's very shiny." Buffy declared

"That should go on the invites - come see the wedding, its very shiny'" Spike mimicked and Buffy elbowed him playfully in the ribs.

"So, you two lovebirds got everything figured out?" Buffy wondered, when everyone looked at Grace expectantly. Grace however was busy staring dreamily at the ceiling when she realized everyone was watching her she giggled and reached into her bright yellow backpack and pulled out what looked like flyers

"Ladies and Gentlemen! The Grand Unveiling of Faith and Robin's wedding invitations, made by yours truly!" she proclaimed as though she was at the circus "well actually Willow made them, but I'm the one handing them out!" she corrected herself and handed one to Buffy and Spike and looked in confusion at Robin and Faith

"What?" Robin questioned, his tone sounded a little bit rude, even though he really did have a soft spot for Grace. She had a certain fire about her, sort of like a tiger, or a lion cub – something playful like that.

"Do I give invites to you two?" she asked in a completely serious whisper then cleared her throat "Robin and Faith! I hereby invite you to your own wedding, where you shall marry yourselves and have thousands of tiny fat children!" she placed a flyer in each of their hands as Faith broke out in laughter. Count on Grace to make an awkward situation a million times more awkward.

"Well thanks, but I think that it's a given," Robin winked at her "have you invited yourself yet?" he asked jokingly

"I asked, but I haven't given myself a reply yet." She stated with a silly grin

"You're kinda scary." Faith lifted an eyebrow at how serious Grace was even though she and Robin were just talking crazy as she recently became used to seeing them do.

"Speaking of scary, weren't we going dress shopping today?" Buffy asked, determined to go and shop her brains out – a sorely missed aspect of her life

"Can't I just… wear jeans or something? I hate wedding dresses!" Faith complained and Grace and Buffy exchanged an evil look

"If you don't go we'll buy your dress for you!" Buffy warned

"It'll be the ugliest dress in all the land!" Grace added and Faith put her hands up defensively

"Okay, okay let's just make it quick okay!" she pleaded and Buffy and Grace high-fived

"Where's Xander? Thought he was meant to get here before us," Spike directed the question at Buffy "I'm not wearing a tux if he doesn't show up." He suddenly announced, seeing a small beacon of hope, like Faith he wasn't very fond of formal wear.

"Not sure, maybe I should call him?" she wondered looking around to see what everyone else thought when her phone started buzzing in her coat pocket "okay now that's just spooky." She stated then answered the phone

"Xander?" she answered, hearing nothing but cars in the distance on the other line.

"…Uffy… aper… di… hear?" his voice was muffled as he moved off the busy streets inside a small grocery store so he could hear better

"Huh?" Buffy gave her phone a weird look and then listened to Xander again

"Have you read the paper?" he asked in annoyance

"No, I don't usually read the paper, why did something happen?" she quickly jumped into slayer-mode, thinking Angelus and Dru must've done something, the others were staring at her, expecting some sort of slayer emergency

"Yeah you remember the guy that came around to your house for a little while? The greasy looking guy?" Xander couldn't remember names for the life of him

"Yeah Dawn wanted to go looking for him today, she's getting an ultra-sound," Buffy explained then sighed, "Xander is this going somewhere?" she asked in annoyance. She'd been rather touchy lately, it was tiresome how her little sister was pregnant and considering motherhood before she was, the eldest was meant to do everything first.

"Well you can tell her to stop looking," Xander sounded bitterly sarcastic on the other line, Buffy immediately knew something was seriously wrong

"You found him? I thought Dawn said he just went home?" Buffy was dead serious now

"No, but it turns out that he was found dead, three nights ago, which falls under the category 'odd' doesn't it?" Xander was ruffling the newspaper in his hands; no doubt he was in a newsagents somewhere

"Odd? Odd how? Why odd?" Buffy freaked out

"Half page article on page 5, with an interesting little photo there too," Xander seemed to be dragging out – or even dreading – what he had called to say

"What's the photo?" she expected something hellmouthy

"Guess who was at the crime scene?" he wasn't really expecting an answer so he revealed the answer before Buffy could respond, "Grace, Buffy, Grace was at the crime scene, she's in the photo." Xander informed her and Buffy said her goodbyes and slammed the phone shut.

"What'd the school-boy want?" Spike asked halfheartedly, not catching the brief look of panic in Buffy's expression

"Did he get lost or something?" Faith wondered

"No, he's on his way." Buffy replied, regaining her composure quickly, but she cast a quick glance at Grace who stared back obliviously

"What?" Grace asked, still as chipper as she was when Buffy first saw her this morning

"Nothing." Buffy lied as everyone made his or her way out of the hall, Buffy made a mental note to check for a newspaper on her outing – she needed to see this for herself.

--

"Over here!" Xander called, waving his hand frantically, glad for the appearance of Robin. He'd been standing alone in a swarm of strangers in a town he'd hardly been in before and it was getting far too awkward for him. Robin too was glad for the company that wasn't Spike. He still hated Spike to the pits of hell and back but Faith didn't mind him so there wasn't much he could do without pissing her off. One thing you learn after being involved with a slayer is to never get one angry.

"So, do any of you know where to buy a suit?" Xander wondered, the stores were set out vastly different than the ones back in Sunnydale.

"Let's try clothing stores first, then we'll ask around, I'm sure they'd have a formal wear shop somewhere," Robin concluded quickly "by the way, where's Giles?" he directed the question to Xander

"At home, looking after Jenny, apparently she's just getting worse, Giles wont even sleep until he's sure she's okay, it sounds bad." Xander's voice was soaked with pity for the old man, especially Jenny.

"Poor guy," Robin agreed and Spike rolled his eyes

"Yeah, yeah, tale of woe and all that clap," he sighed through his nose "can we just go get these sodding suits? I don't really fancy an evening out with gents like you" he blinked innocently at them, receiving two hateful glares in return

"Fine with me." Robin replied, a small snarl forming on his lips

"Yeah, we don't want to cut into your evening or anything." Xander added in an annoyed tone of voice

--

"And then we'll go to that one!" Buffy finished finally, pointing around at all the shops she saw fit as wedding-worthy. Grace had even suggested a craft store for accessories, which of course Buffy had agreed to without another thought.

"And then can we go home?" Faith's shoulders sagged, the depression of shopping against her will already looming over her like a thundering black cloud.

"Not a chance! After that we look for shoes!" Buffy grinned; she missed shopping more than one could have thought possible

"Where is Ashley?" Faith asked suddenly and Grace shrugged indifferently. Grace and Ashley had clashing personalities. Ashley was a bit shy, a strong fighter with good tactics for battle, but she rarely spoke up around the group. Grace however seemed to have the proverbial spotlight on her no matter where she went, however she acted carelessly and without thought during a fight.

"I think she was dropping off Dawn at Giles' then coming here to meet us," Buffy replied, though she sounded uncertain

"So we're meeting her where?" Grace asked

"She said she was going to stop by the library first, something she needed for school, she told me this morning." Faith explained so the three of them walked towards where Grace told them the library was. The building was tiny, only just bigger than Grace's magic shop that was currently closed until Grace found someone to rent it. They walked in carefully, none of them feeling totally comfortable in a public library.

"I think I like Giles and his books more than this," Buffy mumbled while looking at all the books lined up in categories and stacked higher than she could reach.

"I like it better outside…" Faith admitted and Grace nodded, she liked books as much as the next girl, but this was just scary. Ashley however popped her head out of the non-fiction section and signaled them to come over.

"Hello!" Ashley greeted them excitedly; they stared at her like she was criminally insane for loving a public library this much, especially since this was such an unfamiliar country to her.

"Are you done? We need to find dresses!" Buffy hissed, unsure if she was meant to keep her voice down in a public library, apparently so as an elderly employee hushed her angrily

"Yeah I'm cool now, but look!" she showed them a pile of at least seven huge books all piled on a table "isn't psychology interesting! Dreams, Id's, egos, awareness – its amazing isn't it?" she was almost jumping on her toes now

"Oh yeah, thrilling." Buffy nodded sarcastically and Ashley got the point and went to go get her books scanned. Once that was done they walked back out into the fresh air. Grace, Faith and Buffy were all silently grateful to be out of there, but Ashley was too busy wishing the shopping would hurry up so she could read some of the books.

"So where do we go first?" asked Faith, who was desperately trying to sound enthusiastic but was failing miserably

"_Dashes_" Buffy named the store and pointed to a vintage looking store halfway down the road and they all walked up expecting different things. Faith was expecting a bunch of blonde newly weds to be picking out all the good dresses and wondering why Faith would even walk into the store. Buffy was imagining the variety she would be able to help Faith pick from and thinking about what colour dress she would wear. Faith had warned them all that she wasn't having bridesmaids (and Buffy was only maid-of-honor since they'd known each other the longest) that she wasn't going to bother having matching dresses and that they could wear rags for all she cared. Ashley was still unaware of the day she was in for and was pleasantly spaced out and enjoying the scenery on the way. Grace was putting headphones into the new ipod she'd picked up back in Australia (for pretty cheap too) and was already convinced she'd just pick out the first dress she saw and that would be that.

"Hi!" a middle aged woman with skin that looked unnaturally tanned and eyebrows that didn't seem to move with the rest of her face "do you want any help at all?" she asked, chewing gum all the while

"Yeah, I'm looking for a wedding dress." Faith got right down to the point and the woman tilted her head in confusion

"You are?" the woman didn't seem to realize how rude she sounded "Oh! Of course, never mind, I'm guessing you want something vibrant and showy?" she spoke with a weird click of the tongue at the end of each syllable.

"No." Faith was just as rude as the saleswoman, if not worse

"We just need something nice and simple, it's not really a huge wedding." Buffy explained and Grace and Ashley went off to explore the non-bridal section of the store. Ashley was driven towards the blues and greens whereas Grace steered directly for the bright yellows and shiny red dresses with complicated backings and strings.

"No, of course not honey!" the woman did not seem shocked that Faith wasn't having a huge to-do about her wedding "these are our most simple designs, feel free to try them on, just don't you know, steal 'em" she clicked her tongue at them and strutted back to the front desk and immersed herself in a magazine.

"How about this one?" Buffy held up one that had long sleeves and a flowing back but Faith was already looking at a different dress. It was long sleeved but the sleeves were wide and there was a long, but elegant slit down the side of the dress. It had a barely visible pattern of what looked like waves on the front but the back was bare. The only thing was that Faith at the dress like it was the best thing since Christmas, however Buffy could only see a plain dress which sleeved that were too big.

"I'll get this one." Faith decided already, a small sparkle in her eyes

"Are you sure? You didn't even try it on yet." Buffy was a bit surprised that Faith had settled her decision already but Faith nodded quickly and sharply

"I want this one…" she replied and stormed over to the woman at the desk and began discussing payment plans, since Faith didn't exactly have enough money to buy an elegant gown or anything. Buffy picked her dress, a peach number with a gold lining on the bottom, it was just below ankle length but it didn't quite hit the floor. It swung off her curves wonderfully and made her look much more mature just by the way it sat so finely. Ashley picked out shimmering purple dress that was lined with sequins around the neckline. It was short sleeved but it covered her shoulders and she brought a dark purple shawl to go along with it. Grace had picked out a short red cocktail dress and a pair of high-heeled brown boots that complimented the outfit nicely. All in all, the outfits were ready, the date was set and everything was in motion.

"I think we're wedding ready!" Buffy announced and the girls walked out of the store laughing and holding their purchases gleefully. The shop girl smiled as they left, putting the money she'd received first hand in the register then as a bucket of sewing material fell to the floor by her feet, she shrieked and jumped.

"I… I didn't see you there! Can I help you?" the woman held a hand to her heart

"Hmm… I seem to be lost, the clock's almost stuck twelve and I can't find my slipper," Drusilla whimpered and then looked up angrily at the woman

"What?" the woman replied, wondering what she should do since she was alone in the store at the moment "clock? Do you need to know the time?" she guessed, thinking Drusilla was some kind of foreigner

"Don't need the time!" Dru wagged her finger at the woman "Just the numbers, daddy wants to know what day the ball is being held, he'll be awfully cross should I come home not knowing." She informed the woman who swallowed her gum quickly

"Listen if you're not buying then get out would you? You're scaring away customers!" the woman complained and Drusilla looked over her shoulder and seemed to spot what she wanted

"Thank you for your assistance, you've been very lovely," Drusilla nodded slowly "but it seems that I've grown a bit hungry waiting here all night… some day I might wither away! Nothing but dust and ashes! Catching the wind and making the baby sparrows cry." Drusilla finished and as the woman seemed to understand the situation it was already too late and Drusilla already had her fangs set deeply into the woman's neck.

**Wow! I'm glad I wrote all that up! Reviews please! Let me know if you like where this is going! Anyway next chapter is a two parter (oh yes my long awaited wedding chapter) so you can all look forward to that! Updates might get wonky since I'm working on a new Dramione and an Angel fic so I need to tend to all my stories okay! So be patient with me! **


	25. Shindig Part One

**My favourite chapter thus far! I'm so proud of this one! How obnoxious is that! Regardless of my weird problems, read on brave reader, read on! **

Buffy woke up far too early, but she was too excited to sleep in. Today Faith was going to get married to Robin – and she got to be a maid-of-honor. She rolled over to see Spike lying next to her with his eyes closed in the most peaceful expression. They were both wearing next to nothing – considering the night previous emotions were running high, so what else did they expect was going to happen? She smiled a little bit and decided to let him sleep for a bit longer and crept out the door and towards the kitchen. When she got to the kitchen she noticed a big yellow note sticking to the microwave. She walked over and picked it up, her smile still stretching across her face. After glancing at the note her smile became a sorrowful frown, her eyes widened and her heart dropped.

_Buffy, _

_I know you don't like having to look after me. I know I'm a handful, which is why I've gone. I'm sorry that I've fallen pregnant but you need to understand that this baby is special – I can feel it. Please don't look for me, don't send someone to look for me just forget about me. I need to do this alone and I can't do that with you watching me like a child. You're not my mother. I'm not sorry, but this isn't your fault. _

_Love always, _

_Your sister,_

_Dawn. _

Buffy crumpled the note and ran to Dawn's room in a frenzy of panic and tears. She threw open the door to find the room was empty. The bed was made and the drawers were almost completely emptied of clothes. Buffy stepped in nervously and noticed on her desk there were scissors and envelopes. The envelopes were all named to each member of the scoobies except for Buffy herself – her note had already been given.

"Dawn?" Buffy whispered, hoping by some off chance she was hiding outside the room or the whole running away deal. No one answered her call, she sat down on her little sisters pink coloured bed sheets and held her head in her hands.

"Dawnie!" she whimpered as tears fell like hail from her eyes. Not only had she lost her sister, she felt like she'd failed her mother. She'd failed as a sister, a mother and guardian. And that stung beyond words. From the door Spike was watching his girlfriend cry, but he couldn't understand what for. She had seemed like nothing in the world could bring her down, but now it looked like the world had tested that theory.

"Buffy?" Spike was awake, shirtless and wearing nothing but his jeans. She didn't reply, she just kept crying, so he sat down next to her.

"What happened?" he asked placing a hand on her shoulder. She was freezing cold and covered in nervous sweat.

"She ran… she ran a…away," Buffy wailed, glad that no one else was in the house today besides the two of them "it's all my fault Spike, what am I going to do?" she threw herself into his bare chest and curled her arms around his neck.

"You'll do what you always do, you'll find her and make up." Spike stated and Buffy shook her head and met his beautiful blue eyes

"It's not that simple, she doesn't want to be found." Buffy wiped her eyes. If there was one thing she understood, it was not wanting to be found. She'd gone through a similar thing when she'd killed Angel.

"Then we'll call the Watcher, we'll send out the new slayers to find her." Spike suggested rocking her back and forth.  
"No. She wants to deal with this on her own. I think she needs that." Buffy admitted, though it pained her to say it out loud, Dawn was more or less an adult now.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive," she replied then sniffled and bit her tongue to hold back the next avalanche of tears "Spike? Can you not tell anyone just yet? I don't want to ruin the wedding." She asked him and he smiled.

"It'll be our little secret." He promised then pulled her into a passionate – if not sudden – kiss. She accepted the comfort and kissed him back, lessening the kiss into a bittersweet softness. She didn't need passion right now, she needed understanding and that's exactly what Spike was so good at giving.

--

"I don't think I should wear the shawl." Ashley said, scratching her head as she and Willow looked at themselves in the floor length mirrors. Willow and Ashley were staying with Jenny and Giles for the time being. Willow looked at her backless pale yellow dress and swung her hips just to see the dress pirouette like a shimmering parachute.

"Why? I think it's pretty." Willow replied and gave Ashley a friendly smile who then returned it awkwardly and attempted smoothing down the dress.

"I don't know, I just feel like I'm going to funeral," she complained "why didn't I pick out a bright dress?" she was mostly talking to herself by this point, but Willow responded anyway

"Uh, well if I remember right you said 'I'll die before I wear something bright to a wedding'." Willow grinned and Ashley rolled her eyes

"I get embarrassed okay?" she said defensively

"Okay." Willow said then threw the shawl at Ashley who wrapped it around her shoulders and grimaced

"Okay, maybe not a funeral, possibly a wake." Ashley half-joked and Willow came back to stand next to her

"Complain all you want but as soon as you start having fun you owe me ten dollars." Willow joked, but she managed the get Ashley to crack a smile.

"Lets go do this thing." Ashley said as the two girls swooped out of the room, their perfumes lingering in the room behind them.

--

"I look like a rectangle." Anya stated and Xander couldn't help but grin at the remark

"But a very well proportioned rectangle." He laughed when she gave him an annoyed look. He walked out of the room wearing his old wedding tux, one that gave Anya the weirdest feeling of déjà vu.

"When do we have to leave?" she questioned

"Soon."

"When soon?"

"Half an hour maybe?" Xander replied trying to maneuver his tie properly, but failing miserably each time her tried. Anya grinned and walked towards him and took the tie into her own hands. Without needing to think about it she looped and knotted the tie like she'd done it a million times before

"When did you learn that?" Xander was amazed, Anya had her memory wiped and she still knew how to tie and tie better than him.

"I didn't learn, I just sort of knew how." She informed him, unaware that her hands still lingered on his shoulders.

"What other nifty tricks do you 'just know'?" he asked, suddenly intrigued by what secret tricks she had hidden up her sleeve

"Lots of things!" her cheeks turned a rosy pink as she began reciting her newfound talents to Xander "I can play poker, I'm really good at complicated mathematics, I know origami, nursery rhymes, how to make bread and for some reason I know a whole boatload of stuff about filing and spreadsheets." She finished with a quick exhale.

"You just know all that stuff?" Xander was amazed, he felt rather stupid sitting next to someone like her

"That and how to tie tie's!" she reminded him and he grinned

"You're one crazy girlfriend." He stated and she grinned and returned to the bathroom to continue working on her hair, she was straightening it and putting it up into two small pigtails. She was also reveling in the fact that Xander had just called her his girlfriend.

--

"Rupert I'm fine, stop fussing!" Jenny scolded as Giles held her arm as she put on her heels. She'd stumbled just a tiny bit and Giles had immediately panicked and thought she was going to pass out.

"Yes… yes of course." He replied awkwardly and she placed a hand on the side of his face

"Today's going to be fine, it's just a wedding, nothing will go wrong." She promised and Giles smiled a little and looked into her eyes

"Saying that I believe is called er… 'Jinxing it' or so Buffy has called it many times before" he felt weird quoting things a teenager had said.

"Will you let me off for it?" she pleased jokingly

"I suppose there could be a loophole or two in the theory." He admitted and then arm in arm they went to go meet up with Ashley and Willow who were waiting at the front door.

--

"Stop struggling!" Grace growled as she attempted again at putting Robin's bow tie on him but he kept moving his head about in the process.

"The material's scratchy!" he complained

"Stop being a little girl!" she slapped him lightly over the head and then bit her bottom lip and attempted the bow tie for the seventh time.

"So how do I look?" he asked, tugging a little at the white shirt he was wearing underneath the suit. Grace grabbed his hand forcefully and shoved his hands back to his sides where he couldn't fiddle with Grace's hard hours of work.

"Like a married man, or a nearly married man." She smiled at him and he patted her on the head, messing up her already messy hair.

"Gee, you're so sweet." Robin replied sarcastically, though he understood that she meant well, it was too fun getting a rise out of her. They had an almost sibling-like relationship, like they'd known each other for years.

"You bet your butt I'm sweet. I'm the sweetest person on the planet!" she pointed an accusing finger at him and he rolled his eyes

"Somehow I have trouble believing that." He replied and then she pushed him towards the door in mock anger

"Time for Mr. nearly married to leave the room," she said then before she slammed the door "and I can too be sweet! I bet you I can make ten friends before you can make five!" she challenged and he laughed

"You're on, now hurry I don't want to be late." He said, not bothering to hide his stress.

"I'm hurrying!" she said then pushed the door shut with her hip and skipped over to her red slip dress and pulled out a small bottle from her bag. It was a tiny vial of what looked like water but on closer inspection it had tiny pink flakes in it just floating. It was a potion, and Grace knew this was her chance to fix all of the mistakes that her copycat vengeance demon had created.

--

"Oh!" Buffy exclaimed when Spike stepped out of the room in his suit; he looked amazing, even if his expression showed nothing but disgust for the outfit.

"Sodding suit, feels like a bloody material death trap." He grumbled and Buffy held his hand and smiled up at him

"Come on, let's put on our happy faces and do this shindig thing." She said then turned towards the bathroom which was occupied by Faith who had taken the succors and claimed she was making 'changes' to her dress.

"Faith?" Buffy rapped lightly on the bathroom door "you still breathing?" she joked

"Maybe!" Faith yelled back and Buffy heard the sound of material ripping and exchanged a look of interest with Spike.

"What are you doing in there?" Spike wondered if she was ripping up the wedding dress

"I told you! I'm not wearing that white piece of trash, its not me," she replied, "I'm just making a few subtle changes!" she replied though something in her voice sounded amused by the word subtle.

"Faith, that's enough, come on out or you'll be late." Buffy warned and she heard the lock click around and Faith fiddling with the handle

"No laughing?" she asked before opening the door fully

"No laughing." Buffy agreed to her terms

"Not too much laughing." Spike corrected, easily dodging Buffy's foot when she went to go stamp his foot for saying that.

"I will kill you if you do." Faith warned, though the threat was rather dry since she was so nervous. Slowly she stepped out and looked expectantly though her heavily eyeliner eyes to see their reactions

"Bloody hell!"

"Holy crap!"

"That bad?" Faith questioned with a coy grin.

**Hope you guys like it, I wrote this chapter with all the nerdy excitement I could muster. I attended my first ever college lecture (for an open day, I'm not in uni yet) and my Lord it was amazing. The room was massive and it honestly felt like I was in someone else's shoes for the day. I can't wait to go! Ha-ha, just wanted to get out that little rave. **


	26. Shindig Part Two

**I'm sorry for lateness in my updating; I've got about four other stories going. Three (including this one) I really enjoy writing and my other one just feels like a chore so I had to wait for my muse to kick back up again. Cheers for being patient though! **

"So it really looks different right?" Faith double-checked, she completely attacked her dress in the bathroom finding that the length was too much and the sleeves just annoyed her. If it was her wedding day then the dress had to be something she would wear.

"Oh yeah." Buffy nodded, still wide-eyed.

"I thought you were going to return the thing?" Spike raised an eyebrow questioningly and Faith looked at him with a confused expression.

"Well yeah, I have to right?" she said obliviously.

"But you killed it?" Spike questioned then shut his mouth when Buffy shot him a rather dangerous glare.

"I made it _better_." Faith insisted as Buffy examined the dress one last time before they opened the Gym doors and the wedding commenced. It was now sitting above her knees with a slit up her right leg ending at her upper thigh. It made the dress look classy even though the length was now laughably short. The sleeves were now cut like thick spaghetti straps and Faith had tied what looked like black curtain material around the middle. To top it all off she wore black-heeled boots, which were more suited to military uniform than a wedding dress of all things.

"Hey B?" Faith suddenly noticed that Dawn wasn't with them.

"What?" Buffy said, her hand resting on the handle.

"Where's the little sis?" she asked, looking around them.

"She had stuff to do… she won't be back for a while." Buffy replied quickly knowing Faith wouldn't ask too many questions.

"Oh… whatever, that's cool." Faith shrugged it off, the less people to witness this event the better really.

"Ready?" Buffy said with an excited grin. Faith took in a deep breath and held it.

"Slayer?" Spike said slowly when she didn't answer.

"Open the doors." Faith commanded, with a mix of determination and fear in her eyes.

---

"I'm bored." Anya complained and Xander patted her on the back.

"They'll be here soon, just be patient." He said like a parent talking to bratty kid.

"You said that ten minutes ago." Anya replied, pursing her lips.

"Because you complained ten minutes ago, why don't you go to the snack table or something?" he offered but she took it as an insult.

"Fine." She snapped and got up off her seat and headed for the snack table. There were only two rows of seats since it was a rather exclusive wedding, but the hall still seemed so full. At the snack table was Willow, Grace and Ashley. To the left of the hall were two unknown people. The young priest and a slender – if not bony – woman sitting on the piano stool. The woman was wearing all black with a fishnet veil over her face, and her long pointy fingers were painted a sickly pink colour – almost like dried up blood. He on the other hand was very tall and was wearing some very old looking robes with a hood that covered most of his face, however a small moustache was visible. Anya walked right by them on her way to the snack table where Grace and Ashley were arguing over something while Willow watched in amusement.

"Hey Anya." Willow smiled casually and Anya waved and started looking at the food choices. It seemed to consist mostly of sandwiches cut out in puzzle piece shapes.

"I'm not saying it's not cool, I just think it's pointless!" Grace sounded as though she'd been saying it for a while. Ashley sighed and shook her head, deciding she had the higher ground in this situation.

"It's not pointless, it's well done and must've taken a long time!" she insisted as Willow picked up another tuna and lettuce sandwich and began munching away as the two youngest slayers bickered.

"What are they arguing about?" Anya enquired and Willow just shrugged.

"It _was _about them not liking some of the sandwiches but now it's just insult salad." Willow explained just as Grace spoke again.

"Who cares what it looks like? It all comes out the same way!" Grace pointed out.

"That's disgusting!" Ashley quickly clamped her hands over her ears and stomped away to go talk to Giles and Jenny.

"But she has a point." Anya said quickly and Grace nodded a quick 'thank you' nod to Anya for the assist in the insult battle.

"This is going to be one wacky wedding." Willow proclaimed.

And somewhere in the room, someone laughed.

---

Buffy and Spike walked through the doors first, arm in arm, both of them with wide smiles stretched across their faces. Robin turned around hopefully but Buffy motioned wildly for him to turn back around. Spike went and sat down in a chair in the front row, smiling encouragingly at Buffy who was now standing where she hoped the maid-of-honor was meant to stand. Hesitant footsteps could now be heard entering the hall, now at the entrance stood Faith – very much read in the face. As she walked, the woman at the piano began to play. It was slower than the usual brides march; it was played in a much lower key. The deeper end of the piano, which echoed around the hall as though they were all at a funeral. The woman playing the melancholy notes had her eyes closed underneath the veil, however her elbows, hands and fingers were all shaking – though it wasn't cold.

Clapping began as Faith ducked her head down to avoid showing off the fact she was blushing furiously. Slowly she approached Robin who was looking at her with unblinking eyes, she blushed even more.

"I like the dress." Robin whispered and Faith had to work hard to hide the grin that threatened her lips. Then, the priest spoke.

"Friends, family –

" – Just friends." Faith corrected him quickly, the man looked down, his glare hidden by his robes hood.

"Just friends then." The priest coughed angrily "I've been asked to make this quick, so I'll let this two exchange vows now." The man shrugged and where Buffy stood she couldn't put her finger on it, but the man seemed to strike a feeling of distrust in her. She ignored it; she was probably just being paranoid. However she couldn't help thinking the voice sounded far too much like it was being put on, even the moustache seemed like it didn't belong. But everyone else seemed fine, so she let it go.

"I, Robin Woods vow to respect and protect, you, Faith Lehane for as long as we remain together. I will not stray and I will not fight you. I offer you only my love and this ring as a symbol of that love." He spoke and in the crowd Grace was giving him the thumbs up, she was proud to have helped make that little speech with him. Faith looked frozen now, like she had just been lowered into a tank of sharks.

"And yours?" the priest asked impatiently.

"I…" Faith couldn't seem to form a coherent sentence anymore, like her voice box itself had just stopped walking "I… I'm so sorry." She suddenly looked up at Robin with a look of remorse on her face, which had returned to its usual pale colour.

"What?" Robin laughed awkwardly; he was just as confused as everyone else now.

"I can't do this." Faith replied, biting her bottom lip.

"You don't want to marry me?" Robin rolled the prospect around in his mind, though it just wouldn't make any sense to him.

"I can't. You gave me no choice before… I didn't think about it… but now it's happening I know I cant do it." Faith said much to Robin's dismay – those were the words no groom wanted to hear on his wedding day.

"I don't think I understand." Robin shook his head, hoping he was just daydreaming or something… anything but this.

"I wouldn't make a good wife, I'd be bad at it, you'd feel trapped and then I'd get pissed all the time, there's no way it will ever work between us… and I'm sorry." Faith slid her ring off her finger and put it into his breast pocket.

"Well that's just no good!" a horribly familiar voice said, leaving Buffy wide eyed and everyone else quickly rising from their seats. The priest removed his hood and then quickly peeled off his moustache, revealing none other than Angelus.

"The party's over and the clocks still on eleven… there'll be a fuss in the carriage now." Drusilla sing-songed from the piano, her veil still planted firmly on her dark brown hair.

"Angel…" Buffy whispered quickly backing off to join Grace and Ashley who were slowly reaching under their seats.

"Hello lover!" he greeted with as much sarcasm as a vampire could muster then he and Drusilla shifted into vamp-face.

"It's time for the first dance but everyone's bound and gagged!" Drusilla said with so much excitement she sounded like a child. She proceeded to the middle of the room and began sashaying about in all directions then came to a stand still when Angelus approached her.

"Do you want to give our blessing to the lucky bride and groom Dru?" Angel asked; his hands slinked around her waist. She purred, a sound not far from that of a jungle cat.

"Oh yes please daddy." She said then made a beeline for Robin who Faith quickly pushed out of harms way and pulled a stake out from inside her dress. Buffy, Grace and Ashley were also armed with stakes they'd cleverly placed underneath their chairs and were now cornering Angelus. Suddenly a loud noise echoed within the room and Gretel was now standing by the double doors, looking less than thrilled about the turn of events.

"I said you were to wait." She hissed through clenched teeth. Angelus shrugged in a very bored fashion.

"Well the early bird gets the worm." He said with a swing of his arm.

"I do not get you freed from a cage a freaking fire so you can skip about doing whatever the hell you want, you'll do what I was say, when I say it or there'll be hell to pay, do you hear me Angel?" Gretel lectured as she stomped towards him. No one noticed Grace slink away and reach into her leather purse and pull out a small vial of an orange looking potion.

"I'm sure that not one of you were on the guest list." Giles said, taking his usual fatherly stand, however Buffy cut him off before he could say anything else.

"You freed Angel? I thought Drusilla freed Angel?" Buffy asked, stake held high and at the ready for any sudden movements.

"Nope!" Gretel popped the 'p' sound then explained further "we called Drusilla who agreed to help us, us being the vengeance demons, and work with Angel so could stop your whole slayer army thing from happening." She informed them and Buffy noticed Grace stalking up behind Gretel.

"Except, they didn't play by the rules! They weren't supposed to be here!" she threw her hands up in the air "they just cant help but screw everything up for everyone!" she growled and Grace spoke up from behind her.

"That's something you and them have in common then.' She quipped with much bitterness in her tone.

"I'm sorry, I forget your name sometimes… remind me again…" Gretel was completely unaware of the potion hidden in Grace's hand. So was everyone else apparently.

"You screwed up everything for everyone and what's worse is you used me to do it, so right now, I'm thinking a little revenge is in order." Grace raised an eyebrow.

"And we're what, gonna have a yelling match about it?" Gretel challenged and at that moment Buffy noticed what was in Grace's hand.

"Grace, no!" she shouted, which distracted Gretel for enough time for Grace to hurl to potion right at Gretel. Gretel waved a hand dismissively and the potion hurdled for the back wall of the gymnasium, the glass bottle smashed and the potion formed a sickly coloured puddle. Grace stared in horror at her wasted efforts when Spike noticed something.

"Bloody hell! They got away!" Spike boomed and Willow shook her head.

"No, they couldn't have, it's daylight and there's no sewer entrances near here." Willow stated and then Jenny spoke up for the first time since the wedding started.

"Which means they're still here somewhere and we're all still in danger." She added and Giles took her hand carefully and she smiled sadly at him.

"Robin's gone." Faith said, her voice thick with emotion she didn't generally show on the outside, with that statement everyone realized he had vanished completely.

"Did they take him?" Grace asked, suddenly fear was in her voice, something that didn't really happen too much.

"Gee, you better go find out!" Gretel flashed her teeth at them in a way that greatly resembled a Cheshire cats grin and then walked over to the snack table "well hurry on up people, they could be eating his brains right now as we speak!" Gretel said in mock shock.

"Go in pairs, take a room each and _be careful_." Buffy instructed and then as pairs (Spike with Buffy, Faith with Grace, Giles with Jenny, Xander with Anya and Ashley stayed behind to make sure Gretel didn't make a run for it) they scrambled out and began the search for the would-be-groom.


End file.
